Dailyposts

Rewinding to season 4, while Vecna/Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) didn’t give a name to this other dimension, the Abyss was where Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) banished him back in 1979. Then, in 1983, when Brenner was having Eleven look for Henry/Vecna, she inadvertently created the Upside Down. source https://www.polygon.com/the-abyss-vs-dimension-x-stranger-things-tmnt/

Here’s a challenge for any horror fans in a long-term relationship: Sit down with your partner and watch Together . The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on Hulu, and while on the surface it may seem like standard body horror, within Together lies a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another. source https://www.polygon.com/together-movie-hulu-recommendation/

This wasn’t the original plan. We were supposed to be playing Grand Theft Auto 6 right now, ripping through Vice City on a sun-drenched Bonnie-and-Clyde-style crime spree. GTA 6 ’s first trailer promised back in December 2023 that we’d get the long-awaited follow-up to Grand Theft Auto 5 sometime in 2025. source https://www.polygon.com/2025-no-gta-6-rockstar-games/

The second Avengers: Doomsday trailer is now online, featuring the mighty Thor in a very somber teaser for next year's MCU tentpole. Like the Steve Rogers Doomsday teaser before it, it shows an Avenger in full-on dad mode, this time pleading to the All-Fathers for strength to defeat an unnamed enemy and to return home to his child, Love. source https://www.polygon.com/avengers-doomsday-trailer-2-thor-marvel/

This was the year Microsoft brought Forza and Gears of War to PlayStation — and finally broke the ultimate taboo and said it would soon do the same for Halo . This was the year it said its next Xbox would be a PC, and an expensive one. This was the year it released a $1,000 handheld it got another company to make. This was the year it closed a AAA studio that never released a game. source https://www.polygon.com/microsoft-gaming-2025-xbox-series-x-year-in-review/

In the season 5 episode “Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples,” Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) hires her community college classmate Abed (Danny Pudi) to make a viral YouTube video about Jesus, but the simple project soon evolves into a tortured meta commentary on the act of filmmaking itself. source https://www.polygon.com/anomalisa-10-years-anniversary-charlie-kaufman-dan-harmon/

Ryan Coogler's revival of The X-Files is happening, and it's happening before the writer-director's next Black Panther movie . Coogler said so during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused with Josh Horowitz podcast , offering an explanation of why he's all in on X-Files and a loose plan about what his reboot will look like. source https://www.polygon.com/ryan-coogler-x-files-reboot-cast-premise/

Hail, Caesar! Finally,we're getting closer to New Vegas Fallout season 2. While season 1 ended with a clear look at the iconic location from the 2010 game, the show’s writers don’t seem to be in a particular rush to get there. We didn't get to the post-apocalyptic den of hedonism in episode 4, but we were introduced to one of Fallout: New Vegas 's iconic factions: Caesar's Legion — for better or worse. source https://www.polygon.com/matthew-lillard-carrie-mike-flanagans-stephen-king-remake-transcends-horror/

It could have been so different. Sony has a longstanding, deep relationship with Rockstar Games, and the GTA and PlayStation brands are closely bound together in the public imagination. It would be reasonable to assume Sony and Rockstar have a marketing partnership planned for GTA 6 , console bundles included. With no PC version planned at launch and Microsoft virtually giving up on its current generation of consoles, GTA 6 could be the closest thing to a Rockstar exclusive that PlayStation has seen in 20 years. It will be a massive, massive moment for PS5 that will see a big sales spike for the console as all the refuseniks still clinging to their PS4s finally upgrade — as well as a blitz of publicity, and a technical and creative inflection point for the console generation. source https://www.polygon.com/playstation-2025-sony-ps5-year-in-review/

In The Running Man , Josh Brolin plays a wealthy villain running a TV network that makes millions by exploiting and murdering people living in desperate poverty, while using deepfakes and a well-honed propaganda machine to portray them as greedy, lazy, scary criminals. Wicked: For Good doesn’t emphasize wealth disparity quite that directly, but its villains live in obvious luxury while exploiting and abusing Oz’s most vulnerable population, driving them out of jobs and into cages or slavery. Ne Zha 2 , the year’s number one box-office hit , pits the scrappy inhabitants of a hardscrabble farm town against arrogant elites who live in opulent gold-and-jade palaces in the sky. Even the agreeably goofy comedy reboot The Naked Gun centers on a billionaire’s plot to bring about global armageddon — for his own profit, of course. source https://www.polygon.com/eat-the-rich-movies-2025-anti-billionaire-messaging-sci-fi-superheroes/

That was quite the explosive season finale for Pluribus . We learned quite a bit, are left questioning even more, and have no idea what's going to happen in season 2. Luckily, we have the coming weeks and months (but hopefully not years) to talk, theorize, and angrily tap our feet while we wait for new episodes of Vince Gilligan’s hit new science fiction drama. source https://www.polygon.com/pluribus-season-2-questions-season-1-finale/

That sounds like an enviable position to be in, and it is, but leader of the pack is never where Nintendo has been at its most innovative or at ease with itself. Strangely for such a conservative company, Nintendo is never better than when throwing caution to the wind on the comeback trail from a timid failure — following the GameCube with the Wii, or the Wii U with the Switch. Putting its managers and designers in the position of responsibly managing success appears to stress them out, entrench their conservatism, and deplete their best ideas. source https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-2025-switch-2-year-in-review/

When Blizzard released Overwatch 2 in 2022, the game launched with a new playstyle, three new heroes, and what seemed like few noteworthy changes to how the original game played. Its story from there was a rough one. Its PvE mode , the reason Overwatch 2 existed to begin with, was scrapped, and the few story missions that survived went over poorly with players. The boundaries between hero roles started blurring until they all were different flavors of damage dealers. It was fine , but it wasn't much more than that — and definitely not what you'd expect from a sequel. All that has changed in a big way in 2025, and I'm not just talking about having more and different stuff to do, though that's certainly nice. I mean how all the new perks and other significant additions change the game. It feels like Blizzard's finally thinking outside the box with Overwatch 2 , focusing less on how to tweak what's been here for almost a decade and instead thinking more about doi...

Throughout Stranger Things season 5 , Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) have gotten competitive whenever they’re around Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer). It’s a classic love-triangle dynamic, putting Nancy in the position of choosing between her current boyfriend or her ex, who’s grown a lot as a character since season 1. Writer Kate Trefry and the Duffer brothers settle the matter decisively in episode 6, “Escape from Camazotz,” in a deeply satisfying way that bucks clichés to give every character what they need. source https://www.polygon.com/strangers-things-season-5-episode-6-recap/

This is because DC Studios overseers James Gunn and Peter Safran appear to be flouting a lot of conventional wisdom about how to form a cinematic universe, superheroic or otherwise. In a lot of ways, they’ve been soft-launching the DCU for the better part of a year, even if Superman felt like the true hard launch. But that’s not the only break from tradition the first sorta-year of the DCU represented. Let’s take a quick look at what Gunn and Safran decided not to do, and what it reveals about their unconventional plans for this cinematic universe moving forward. source https://www.polygon.com/2025-state-of-the-dcu/

The year is 2013. Minecraft is still in its infancy. I was 17 years old, regularly joining multiplayer servers for a niche community and game mode called "ultra hardcore" (UHC), and having a great time on TeamSpeak with friends I'd made all over the world. source https://www.polygon.com/minecraft-rarest-death-viral-clip-explained/

2025 was a fantastic year for gaming, from horror juggernauts like Silent Hill f to beloved indie titles like Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong . But while many of 2025's best games have gotten their accolades via The Game Awards , we want to take a closer look at one of the best parts of this year's games: the boss fights. source https://www.polygon.com/best-boss-fights-of-2025/

It’s a big week on streaming for heroes around the world. Batman finds himself in the center of a war in Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires , which places the Dark Knight in 16th century Mesoamerica. The film is available on HBO Max along with Ne Zha 2 , the biggest animated hit of all time,whichcontinues the story of the Chinese folk hero as he defies his dark destiny to make his parents proud. source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-to-watch-fnaf2-streaming-december-26-2025/

Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) has a deep connection with his Dungeons & Dragons character, the wizard Will the Wise. He sometimes dresses in costume, and the character’s name is on his fort in the woods. When Will the Wise is defeated in a battle with the demon lord Demogorgon in the Stranger Things series premiere, it foreshadows Will’s abduction later that episode. source https://www.polygon.com/dungeons-and-dragons-spellcasters-sorcerer-stranger-things-season-5/

Environments are a huge part of what gives a game a distinct personality. Some games create cozy, comforting worlds for players to explore (and/or decorate), while others offer creepy settings that still manage to be inviting, despite the unsettling vibes. source https://www.polygon.com/best-games-environments-2025/

If you’ve been having issues on Steam today, you’re not alone. Valve’s storefront has spent the majority of Christmas eve down, giving people errors of all sorts. source https://www.polygon.com/is-steam-down-error-status-loading-winter-sale/

Like Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) diligently writing down everything she learns about the hivemind, we’ve been scouring each new episode of Pluribus for clues about the show’s science-fiction mystery. But as the season 1 finale brings the story to a close (for now), we’ve learned a staggeringly dark new detail that makes us question each and every interaction between the hivemind and humanity’s survivors. source https://www.polygon.com/pluribus-finale-reveals-all-about-the-hivemind/

For players of a certain age, the fondest Christmas mornings are synonymous with Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda franchise. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link for the kids of 1988 , Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 millennials , and Twilight Princess for anyone who didn’t crack open their Wii immediately in November 2006. Recapturing the thrill of unboxing a new Zelda game around the holidays is basically impossible these days — not just because you’re old. Since the launch of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has preferred spring and fall launches for its marquee franchise. And I’m guessing most of us didn’t wait six months to play Breath of the Wild . source https://www.polygon.com/zelda-like-game-pipistrello-cursed-yoyo-steam-switch-ps5-xbox/

Forgive me, for I am an avowed Terminator sequels hater. Would that I were granted access to time displacement equipment, I would use it to time travel back to the late '90s and find a non-violent solution to prevent Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines from ever happening, thereby creating a cascade effect that would similarly prevent Terminators Salvation , Dark Fate , and Genisys from existing. source https://www.polygon.com/terminator-2d-no-fate-impressions/

For the first time since 2005, Doctor Who won’t have a Christmas or New Year's special this year. This comes straight after Russell T Davies’ latest season of the long-running science-fiction drama closed the TARDIS doors on Ncuti Gatwa’s emotionally liberating 15th Doctor and his companion, Belinda Chandra (portrayed to perfection by Varada Sethu). However, the series didn’t end without first revealing the next face of the Doctor’s regeneration cycle: Billie Piper, who previously played Rose Tyler back when Doctor Who returned in 2005. source https://www.polygon.com/the-christmas-invasion-anniversary-doctor-who-david-tennant-billie-piper/

Vince Gilligan never expected Pluribus to be a hit. “God bless the fans,” the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul tells Polygon. “I did not foresee the show being as talked about as it is, and it makes me deliriously happy.” source https://www.polygon.com/how-will-pluribus-end-vince-gilligan-interview/

The first Avengers: Doomsday trailer is now online — officially, as of Tuesday — giving Marvel fans who didn't take the trip to Pandora or darker corners of the internet their first 4K look at next year's major MCU tentpole. And while the trailer won't be much of a surprise to anyone who's seen Avatar: Fire and Ash in movie theaters, paid attention to leaks , or read eyes-on reports about Steve Rogers' return , it offers a clear look at Chris Evans reprising his role as an Avenger and a teeny-tiny new addition to the MCU, Steve's lil' baby. source https://www.polygon.com/avengers-doomsday-trailer-1-steve-rogers-marvel-chris-evans/

From a pure business standpoint, there’s nothing ambiguous about it: Wizards of the Coast, particularly Magic , is carrying Hasbro. In Q3 2025, Magic revenue grew 55 percent year over year, with CEO Chris Cocks pointing to a string of blockbuster releases led by Final Fantasy — perhaps the single best-performing set in the game’s history — alongside Edge of Eternities , Marvel’s Spider-Man , and high sales volume through various Secret Lair releases. source https://www.polygon.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-2025-review-universes-beyond/

What if the most embarrassing moment you've ever experienced helped you uncover an international criminal conspiracy? That's the premise of the weirdest, if perhaps not the scariest, TV show of 2025. So as huge fans of Tim Robinson, we had to include his Lynchian HBO drama in our ranking of the best spooky shows this year. But sitting alongside The Chair Company are some modern horror classics. Two titans of the genre, Alien and It , got surprisingly great streaming spinoffs in 2025. Meanwhile, Netflix brought back both Stranger Things and Black Mirror to ensure scares for everyone, whether you fear dystopian technology of Lovecraftian monsters. Also, Marvel Zombies was surprisingly good! source https://www.polygon.com/best-horror-tv-shows-2025/

2025 wasn't just a good year for JRPGs. It was a year where the genre stretched in every direction at once without losing sight of where it came from. Sure, it helps that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dominated many "Best Of" annual lists and cleaned up at the Game Awards. Aside from this new all-time great, some of the year’s best JRPGs included the classic trope of heroes fighting a god, while others explored farming elements, tactical combat, and so much more. source https://www.polygon.com/best-jrpgs-2025/

James Gunn announced in September that he was working on Man of Tomorrow , a follow up to Superman that would see Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and Superman (David Corensweet) teaming up against a greater threat .After months of speculation , Gunn confirmed on Dec. 20 that the threat will be Brainiac, played by German actor Lars Eidinger ( Babylon Berlin , All the Light We Cannot See ). source https://www.polygon.com/brainiac-man-of-tomorrow-villain-lex-luthor-explainer/

In a year when Marvel sputtered , the newly formed DC Universe rose to the occasion with Superman , offering an earnest and optimistic response to superhero fatigue. Meanwhile, James Cameron brought us back to Pandora for the most explosive (and emotional) Avatar movie yet. We also got two (2) new Predator films from Prey director Dan Trachtenberg in 2025. And then, of course, there was KPop Demon Hunters , a fantasy epic so wildly successful it forced Netflix to reconsider its relationship with movie theaters. source https://www.polygon.com/the-10-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-movies-of-2025/

James Cameron's third Avatar movie, Fire and Ash , has done the expected and set the global box office on fire with a $345 million opening weekend. That's big — the third-biggest opening of 2025 — but it's some way off the opening of Avatar: The Way of Water , which earned $441.7 million in 2022. It's also over $200 million behind the record-breaking $556.4 million opening of Disney's previous hit, Zootopia 2 . source https://www.polygon.com/avatar-fire-and-ash-box-office-opening/

Jump Festa, the Shueisha-organized annual event in Japan, has been spotlighting major anime and manga announcements since 1999. This year’s two-day fan convention, which took place over the weekend of Dec. 20-21, also featured a chock-full of exciting announcements for the upcoming year. Franchises like One Piece and My Hero Academia got the lion’s share of big reveals and announcements, but everything from Jujutsu Kaisen to Kaiju No. 8 also has enough going on in terms of new reveals and developments. source https://www.polygon.com/jump-festa-2026-all-announcements-one-piece-jjk-mha-bleach-black-clover/

Hell, HUNTR/X even performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where two of the movie’s characters got their own parade balloons . KPop Demon Hunters is everywhere — and its incredible success is a sign that tween girl culture is making a comeback. source https://www.polygon.com/kpop-demon-hunters-tween-girl-culture/

Everywhere you look right now, there’s a gaggle of nerds foaming at the mouth to share their list of the very best video games of 2025. (And we’re no exception!) But what about the stinkers, the flops, the dead-on-arrival turds? We want to take a few moments to honor the low achievers of 2025, the absolute worst games of the year according to review aggregator Metacritic . Are all of these games truly as terrible as the reviews say? Is there a hidden gem or two hidden among the bunch? Let’s find out. source https://www.polygon.com/worst-video-games-2025-metacritic/

“Thriller” can come off like a lazy catch-all. Airport paperbacks, hotel-room movies, Jack Ryan knockoffs — anything played for cheap tension comes to mind. Sometimes that’s fine! But if you dig a little deeper through the bargain bins of streaming — and, let’s face it, every bin on streaming looks more and more like the bargain variety on the surface — you can find thrillers of a sharper tradition. source https://www.polygon.com/3-thriller-masterpieces-netflix-watch-december-2025/

One Piece was the last franchise to get on stage during Jump Festa 2026, as usual. The annual event, sponsored by Shueisha, is the biggest celebration of anime and manga in Japan, and it's also where the hottest news about the upcoming year is shared, usually. One Piece gets the biggest spotlight every year, and while Jump Festa 2026 was lacking big announcements for the franchise, it was revealed that the next story arc could show the final destination in this long journey: Laugh Tale, the island where the One Piece waits. source https://www.polygon.com/one-piece-announcement-jump-festa-2026-oda-message/

Christopher Nolan, the director behind the Dark Knight trilogy and science fiction epics like Inception and Interstellar , nearly always hits a winner with his films, commercially, critically, or both. The one blemish on an otherwise impeccable resume is Tenet , the 2020 sci-fi thriller that, depending on who you ask, falls somewhere between an ace and an unforced error. Tenet is arguably either a jumbled mess or one of Nolan’s best movies — but really, it’s both. source https://www.polygon.com/tenet-christopher-nolan-year-anniversary-review/

Getting around the Fallout 76 map is the (sort of) easy part, if you discount the things and people that want to hurt you. It's the "remembering where all the stuff is" part that gets tricky, 'cause there's a whole lotta stuff in Fallout 76 . Ore. Concrete. Fertilizer. Cooking stations and weapon caches, holotapes and Power Armor, tinkers, trains, today's issue of the newspaper ("today" several years ago). Every bit of it is useful in one way or another, and it's also pretty easy to miss some of the more out-of-the-way resources. source https://www.polygon.com/map/fallout-76-interactive-map-appalachia/

2025 was supposed to be a year of course correction, where Marvel scaled back production (slightly) and focused on great storytelling. Feige was finally going to shake off the dust that had settled in the wake of Thanos’ snap, and retake control of the greatest cinematic franchise in Hollywood history. At least, that was the idea. source https://www.polygon.com/2025-marvel-cinematic-universe-box-office/

The industry-wide layoffs that started in 2023 showed no sign of slowing down. The stakes for new releases are higher than ever, as swollen budgets and development cycles demand recouped costs at launch. Planned games that showed a lot of promise were canned, while the studios working on them were shuttered. All of this went down amid the looming shadow of continued industry consolidation, which doesn’t spell doom by definition but historically has led to even more widespread layoffs, more canceled projects, and more studio closures. source https://www.polygon.com/best-games-2025/

This year's Indie Game Awards honored a host of independent titles, from Blue Prince to and Roger . Put on by collective Six One Indie, the show shined a spotlight on just how many high-quality indie games were released in 2025. Presenters included Celeste composer Lena Raine, co-founder of Thirsty Suitors studio Outerloop Games Chandana Ekanayake, and musician Chipzel. source https://www.polygon.com/indie-game-awards-2025-winners-list/

If you're looking to score shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Z-A , there's quite a few ways to get one, though it mostly involves running around the city and resetting spawns. These rare, sparkling, alternate-color versions of Pokémon are hard to come by, since it's a 1 in 4,096 chance to spawn one, but as you run around the city, you'll be encountering thousands of Pokémon — meaning that you're bound to run into one eventually. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-legends-z-a-plza-shiny-hunting-reset-how-to/

The $700 tabletop console — a massive, polished 24-inch touchscreen designed to sit flat on a table — doesn’t fit neatly into any existing gaming product category. It isn’t a do-everything open-ecosystem PC competitor or a tightly walled-off novelty device. It can’t replace a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X as a AAA platform, and it’s hard to imagine how it ever could. Instead, the Board experience is built around touchscreen gaming that utilizes bespoke physical pieces and prioritizes face-to-face play. On a home consumer level, there wasn't much like it, which meant the first order of business for Putnam’s team of puzzlemakers and businessfolk was to imagine the possibilities. source https://www.polygon.com/board-game-console-review/

Although I happen to like Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens , it’s mostly now remembered for being the start of a trilogy that dropped the stock of Star Wars so hard that it seems like there are more haters than fans these days. But if audiences had any type of nuance to their hatred, they would dislike this film moreso for being the start of a terrible Hollywood trend: the legacy sequel. source https://www.polygon.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-legacy-sequels/

Brennan Lee Mulligan has never shied away from shaking things up. Stepping into the Dungeon Master role for Campaign 4 of Critical Role , Mulligan has introduced new house rules and ideas that have made the latest campaign feel exciting and fresh. And now he's done so again, with a new twist to how leveling up works. source https://www.polygon.com/critical-role-campaign-4-soldiers-level-up-changes-rules-dnd/

A gorgeous Pokémon book that dives into the fictional ecology of pocket monsters is getting a release outside of Japan in 2026. The Pokémon Company announced this week that Pokécology: An Illustrated Guide to Pokémon Ecology will get an English translation and release in North America, thanks to Pikachu Press and Simon & Schuster . source https://www.polygon.com/pokecology-pokemon-ecology-book-release-date-english-pre-order/

It's no secret that Critical Role is working on a variety of different creative projects. The founders recently partnered with AdHoc Studios to develop the superhero video game Dispatch , and a video game set in Exandria is currently in development. However, thanks to a light slip of the tongue from one of Critical Role's founders during an episode of Cooldown, we now know that more will be coming fans' way sometime in the future. source https://www.polygon.com/critical-role-campaign-4-episode-9-cooldown-travis-crawford-teaser/

Terminator: Survivors has been hit with another delay, this time indefinitely, with a statement also announcing that the overall mechanics of the game will be changing too. Originally planned to have cooperative multiplayer, the game will now be entirely single player, and early access plans have been scrapped in favor of a full release. source https://www.polygon.com/terminator-survivors-delay-multiplayer-cancelled-announcement/

Fallout is back on Prime Video with season 2, but this time, the show visits a beloved location from the series: New Vegas . As Fallout takes place in 2296, which is 15 years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas , you’re bound to see a few iconic locations and characters, but they’re a little different from how you might remember them from the game. source https://www.polygon.com/fallout-season-2-easter-egg-show/

Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin developer Larian Studios generated a ton of hype (and no shortage of revulsion ) when it revealed its next big role-playing game, Divinity , at The Game Awards last week. But new comments from Larian co-founder and game designer Swen Vincke have tempered that hype a bit, as the studio is said to be employing generative AI in the creation of Divinity . source https://www.polygon.com/divinity-larian-studios-generative-ai-swen-vincke/

If you ask me, playing solo in Arc Raiders means you're likely to have a pretty friendly experience . I've been playing since day one and while the general meta seems to have shifted to be a little more aggressive lately as players are more geared up and they understand how the game works better, if you hop on proximity chat and explain you're friendly or you're just trying to do a quest, most players will let you stroll right past. source https://www.polygon.com/arc-raiders-hostile-players-matchmaking-algorithm/

Celebrity collaborations are nothing new for Fortnite , even if they're usually based on popular musicians or a long list of video game streamers you may never have heard of. Then there's the newest collab, which sees Kim Kardashian joining the Fortnite universe as the latest entry in the Icon series. source https://www.polygon.com/fortnite-kim-kardashian-icon-skins-chapter-7/

Hollow Knight: Silksong is getting a free expansion, developer Team Cherry announced Monday. It's called Sea of Sorrow and will be out in 2026. source https://www.polygon.com/hollow-knight-silksong-free-dlc-sea-of-sorrow-expansion/

At the start of Michael Man’s thriller, Detective Vincent Hanna (Pacino) is on the Robbery Homicide beat for the LAPD, investigating a series of deadly heists perpetrated by Neil McCauley (De Niro) and his crew. That means for the first hour-plus of the movie, Hanna is showing up at crime scenes well after McCauley has left. Then, about halfway through the 170-minute film, the two men (and their various associates) are in the same place at the same time: Hanna and his fellow cops wait to catch McCauley and his crew robbing a precious metals depository. source https://www.polygon.com/heat-pacino-deniro-mann-at-30/

The Horror Game Awards 2025 kicked off last weekend, on Sat. 13, at the Kensington Conference and Events Centre. Hosted by its co-creators Will Penkeyman and Phil Dickens, as well as co-producer Ash Millman, the award show looks to celebrate horror games and the game developers behind them. And one game in particular won big this year: Silent Hill f . source https://www.polygon.com/silent-hill-f-horror-game-awards/

Kirby Air Riders , that unexpected Nintendo Switch 2 kart racer that Polygon's review described as "everything I could have wanted and more," will only receive one more balance patch before support is dropped and the development team disbands. This comes from Masahiro Sakurai, game director for Air Riders and the creator of the Kirby series. source https://www.polygon.com/kirby-air-riders-no-dlc-dev-team-disbanding/

Sundays won’t be the same without It: Welcome to Derry . The first season surpassed expectations to the point that the show's quality even rivals the two theatrical It films it's canonically connected to. The scares are more creative, the characters are all just as lovable, and Pennywise is even crueler to the children of Derry, Maine, in 1962 than he ever was to The Losers Club. source https://www.polygon.com/it-welcome-to-derry-season-2-everything-we-know-so-far/

HBO Max’s It: Welcome to Derry leaps into nightmare territory early and often. Producer/creator Andy Muschietti and showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane assume viewers are already familiar with Stephen King’s 1986 novel It and/or Muschietti’s movie adaptations, 2017’s It and 2019’s It: Chapter Two . So they don’t waste time on exposition before ripping into the bloody guts of their prequel, about the earlier days of Derry's personal nightmare, Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård). source https://www.polygon.com/welcome-to-derry-betrayal-house-on-hill-evil-of-pennywise-review/

If there’s one movie franchise that I’d happily walk on a bed of nails to avoid watching anything from, it’s the MonsterVerse. So often do they prove to be narratively uninspiring and far too focused on spectacle over sustenance that my attempts to sit through them have, so far, proven unsuccessful. 2014’s Godzilla felt as though director Gareth Edwards had forgotten it was a Godzilla film, with the giant monster not having nearly enough screentime to satisfy me. Its sequel, the 2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters , had a plot that felt so nonsensical that not even the acting of Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga could save it. And yet, while I have very little interest in trying to jump back into those movies — let alone the TV spinoff Monarch: Legacy of Monsters — I do remain a fan of one particular monster, the indomitable King Kong, and of one iteration in particular. source https://www.polygon.com/peter-jacksons-king-kong-is-the-only-kong-film-you-need/

When you hear the term cozy game, a set menu of gameplay offerings leaps immediately to mind: farming, crafting, fishing, and cooking. Beastro , the upcoming game from indie developer-publisher Timberline Studio, has all of those elements. But it mixes up the familiar recipe by adding a sprinkling of tactical deck-building combat. Having spent some time with the game ahead of The Game Awards earlier this week, it’s clear that all these ingredients harmonize remarkably well around Beastro ’s central ideas of food and flavor. source https://www.polygon.com/beastro-preview-roguelite-cozy-game/

Whether it's being meme’d for its ending scene with Linkin Park’s “What I’ve Done” playing in the background, or referenced for how well the special effects have aged compared to today’s standards, there’s just something special about the first Transformers movie. It’s got the polish of a Hollywood action blockbuster, but at its core, it’s another coming-of-age story with some of 2007’s hottest stars. Throw in some spectacular setpieces, explosions, and top-notch humor, and you’ve developed a core memory for every teenager at the time who’s now pushing 40. source https://www.polygon.com/transformer-2007-live-action-film-leaving-netflix/

Nine out of 10 Gamers Walking Around The Game Awards agree: IO Interactive is the team to tackle a big-budget James Bond video game. It has the cred. source https://www.polygon.com/new-james-bond-007-first-light/

Whodunits are back in vogue. 2025 alone included the third Rian Johnson Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery , the fifth season of the meta mystery Only Murders in the Building , and Chris Columbus’ adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club . At the same time, game and toy adaptations continue to be big business, with a Vin Diesel film based on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots in the works along with multiple projects inspired by Catan following the huge success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in 2023 and numerous Lego films. Video game adaptations dominate the box office and every streaming service. source https://www.polygon.com/clue-40th-anniversary-knives-out/

There are tons of Pokémon that have special evolution requirements in Pokémon Legends Z-A , just like in the games that came before it. Some Pokémon just need some specific stones thrown at them, some need to be traded, and some even need to be specific genders. If you're sitting around with your level 40 Pumpkaboo wondering why it hasn't evolved yet, then we're here to help you figure that out. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-legends-z-a-plza-special-evolutions-list-stones-items-trade-all/

Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has a new mystery to solve in the third installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out mystery series, which drops on Netflix this weekend after a brief theatrical run. Meanwhile, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Rez Arc cuts a path onto VOD, providing an accessible entry point for anyone curious about the hit anime. source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-on-streaming-knives-out-chainsaw-man-movie/

Star Wars fans are hardly bereft of choices when it comes to great video games featuring lightsabers , but the world imagined by George Lucas is more than a playground for combat. Few series have understood this better than Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , which was crafted in the old-school computer role-playing game tradition that made companies like Obsidian and BioWare famous. Now, after a number of starts and stops , The Game Awards has revealed that fans will soon be able to play a spiritual successor to the series. It's called Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic . Here's the first trailer. source https://www.polygon.com/star-wars-fate-of-the-old-republic-casey-hudson-the-game-awards/

While The Game Awards ’ big draw is often a flurry of world premiere game announcements and fun new trailers with release dates and fresh gameplay, the annual event is also an awards show. For the 2025 Game Awards, there’s one potential big, record-breaking nominee : source https://www.polygon.com/the-game-awards-2025-all-winners/

JuJutsu Kaisen: Execution is a compilation film that montages its way through the Shibuya arc to provide context for season 3, which will cover the Itadori Extermination arc. This story directly follows Shibuya and gives insight into Yuji Itadori’s mental state after destroying the city as Sukuna controlled his body. Although most don’t need yet another recap of season 2 material, some viewers may still be confused as to why Yuta Okkotsu , the protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, is now out to kill Yuj in the film. Once people find that out, however, they may be confused by the sudden mood shift in the ending. We’re here to make sense of it all, including why Yuta is looking like a villain, if he was able to accomplish this, and what it all means for the future of season 3. source https://www.polygon.com/jujutsu-kaisen-execution-ending-explained-yuta/

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is already one of the hottest anticipated films of 2026. Even more so now that The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson will be making an appearance as their characters, Katniss and Peeta. source https://www.polygon.com/the-hunger-games-prequel-sunrise-on-the-reaping-katniss-peeta/

The 2025 Game Awards are upon us, promising many awards for Clair Obscur and an avalanche of gaming trailers. Every year, the 23-hour-long program devotes approximately 22 hours and 59 minutes to upcoming games. Often, legitimately cool-looking games are announced at the show, like Hades in 2018 , Death Stranding 2 in 2022 , and Exodus in 2023 . source https://www.polygon.com/game-awards-2025-tgas-premieres-trailers-predictions-reveals/

PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra tiers are set to receive a mighty impressive lineup of games to round out the year. One of the best Assassin's Creed games in recent memory, an excellent Team Ninja Soulslike, and more are set to join the subscription service on Dec. 16, as announced in a PlayStation Blog post on Wednesday. source https://www.polygon.com/playstation-plus-game-catalog-december-2025-assassins-creed-mirage/

The game that many believe sounded the death knell for classic computer role-playing games (CRPGs), The Temple of Elemental Evil , returns with a revamped and improved version, courtesy of Sneg, now available on Steam . Dungeons & Dragons fanatics can now dive back into the infamous mega-dungeon originally created by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer for the tabletop game, and check if the many fixes, enhancements, and quality-of-life improvements will clean up the controversial legacy of this game. source https://www.polygon.com/temple-elemental-evil-dungeons-dragons-pc-game-remake-steam/

Watching Reflection in a Dead Diamond is like falling down a rabbit hole lined with images from every spy movie you’ve ever seen, and a thousand you probably haven’t. Inspired by the Eurospy movement — the ’60s era of stylized, sexy, spoofy European movies satirizing James Bond, and drawing from Italy’s adults-only fumetti neri comics — Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s film opens with an old man sitting by the beach at a seaside resort, where the gleam in the diamond nipple ring of a topless sunbather sends him off on a dizzying reverie about his time as a super-spy. source https://www.polygon.com/reflection-dead-diamond-spy-thriller-satoshi-kon-millennium-actress/

As I progressed further in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond , I kept feeling like it had a lot of Dragon Age: The Veilguard vibes. Maybe it was just a similar feeling of disappointment, I thought, since, in both cases, something I was looking forward to fell far short of my hopes. Then I sat down to properly think about it and realized the two have almost identical issues all stemming from the same root problem: forgetting their identities. source https://www.polygon.com/metroid-prime-4-is-the-dragon-age-veilguard-of-metroid/

Disney's Brother Bear has always felt a little overlooked among the company's roster of animated features. It lacks the name recognition of a centuries-old fable like "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White," and parts of its story seem divided between impulses, veering back and forth between a melancholy drama inspired by Native American shapeshifter tales, and a more modern comedy. But it features spectacular animation sequences , and it's built around heartfelt messaging about the connection between humanity and the natural world. source https://www.polygon.com/disney-director-aaron-blaise-snow-bear-short/

It's been quite the year for Doctor Who fans. The second season of the reboot starred Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, alongside Varada Sethu as the no-nonsense nurse, Belinda Chandra. While it started strong, critics and fans' reaction to the show — particularly that finale — were mixed . However, this hasn't stopped fans from jumping into the new Doctor Who spinoff from Russell T. Davies and director Dylan Holmes Williams: The War Between Land and Sea . source https://www.polygon.com/doctor-who-spin-off-ratings-war-land-sea/

Zootopia 2 had the biggest debut ever for an animated movie, earning $556.4 million in its opening weekend. The sequel to 2016’s buddy cop comedy Zootopia is great for all ages, nesting a powerful message in a flurry of jokes and fast-paced action sequences packed with so much detail that you’ll want to rewatch the film to catch everything. But when will Zootopia 2 be available on streaming? Here’s our guess for when you’ll be able to visit the wild world of anthropomorphic animals in your living room. source https://www.polygon.com/disney-zootopia-2-streaming/

Finding your way through Metroid Prime 4: Beyond 's Volt Forge region seems like a cakewalk initially. It's one big tower, Miles , how hard can it be to get around? Then you end up in another big tower with a nearly identical map shape and a third tower that's also a lot like the first two. You can also expect more than a few nasty combat surprises before getting your hands on the Vi-O-La bike, so make sure you're prepared at all times and visit save stations when you see them. source https://www.polygon.com/map/metroid-prime-4-beyond-volt-forge-interactive-map/

Katsuhiro Harada, the game developer whose name is synonymous with the Tekken fighting game series, has announced that he will leave Bandai Namco and Tekken behind at the end of 2025. Harada had worked on Tekken since its inception in 1994. source https://www.polygon.com/tekken-boss-katsuhiro-harada-leaves-bandai-namco-techno-mix/

Dungeons & Dragons is an independent movie, born from the unrelenting passion of one man, Courtney Solomon, an avid fan of the game who became a producer and a director just to create this film. Solomon obtained the rights for a D&D movie from then-owner TSR in 1991, but it took almost 10 years for the production to start. TSR is still infamous for its poor business practices, and it was only when Wizards of the Coast obtained the IP that the movie could be shot. Meanwhile, the budget went from $100 million to $35 million. Along the way, Dungeons & Dragons also lost the interest of big studios and important directors. source https://www.polygon.com/dungeons-dragons-movie-2000-retrospective-disaster/

It seems that every new episode of One-Punch Man season 3 brings its share of controversies. Episode 9 immediately generated discussion among fans after airing, but this time it's not because of the low-quality animation that made this season a complete disaster . Instead, fans are complaining about which version of the fight between Child Emperor and Phoenix Man was adapted into the anime. source https://www.polygon.com/one-punch-man-season-3-episode-9-child-emperor-phoenix-man/

The most anticipated anime of 2026, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End , finally gets a release date. The second season of the anime by studio Madhouse, adapted from the manga by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe, will land on Crunchyroll on Jan. 16, 2026, right in time to help you get out of those post-holiday blues. source https://www.polygon.com/frieren-season-2-release-date-january-2026/

Blinded by the lovely, colorful pixelated world of Orsterra, I severely underestimated how utterly brutal Octopath Traveler 0 would be. And when I say “brutal,” I don’t mean the bazillion innocent NPCs who get slaughtered in horrible ways throughout the story. No, I’m referring to the RPG’s ruthless “influence” system. source https://www.polygon.com/octopath-traveler-0-influence-system-mugging-npc/

The general consensus on Batman Forever has come a long way since Joel Schumacher gave the Caped Crusader latex nipples in 1995. At the time, the film and its 1997 follow-up were viewed as a campy bastardization of the franchise that failed to capture the gothic darkness of Tim Burton’s adaptations . Three decades later, however, most fans are willing to admit that Schumacher’s take on the genre has its place in the pantheon of great superhero filmmaking. However, I’d like to take this re-evaluation one step further with a bold statement: Batman Forever is far more faithful to the spirit and mythos of the comics than it’s ever been given credit for, and Schumacher probably understood the Dark Knight better than Burton ever did . source https://www.polygon.com/batman-forever-underrated-tim-burton-joel-schumacher/

Analysis of the makeup of the jury for The Game Awards — which comprises specialist gaming outlets, mainstream media organs, and influencers from around the world — reveals a voting body that is continuing the steady growth and internationalization that have characterized its last five years or so. But the bigger and more diverse the jury gets, the more conservative its choices seem to be. source https://www.polygon.com/the-game-awards-jury-2025-diversity/

The Boys is coming to an end with its next season, and based on the first trailer for season 5 of Prime Video's ultra-violent satirical superhero saga, The Boys will be going out with a bang when it returns next April. source https://www.polygon.com/the-boys-season-5-trailer-release-date/

Pokémon Go 's big December Community Day (or Community Weekend) event is taking place on Dec. 6 and 7 this year, with most perks running from 2-5 p.m. in your local time. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-go-december-2025-community-day-weekend-event-schedule/

Elden Ring: Nightreign 's map changes depending on whether a Shifting Earth event is active and which one happens to descend on Limveld. Sometimes, you get the Crater that brings a touch of Mt. Gelmir to the middle of the map. You might get a forest full of Scarlet Rot (it's more useful than it sounds), a variation on the Mountaintop of Giants, or maybe even the Forgotten Hollows DLC's challenging new region . And sometimes, you just get plain ol' Limveld. Even the standard map has plenty of secrets to sniff out and useful upgrades to give you a better chance of surviving until the end of the third night, though, whether it's the promise of a special item from an Evergoal or a network of mining tunnels full of upgrade items. source https://www.polygon.com/elden-ring-nightreign-interactive-map/

Dragon Ball fans who were waiting for the Genkidamatsuri event in January to learn about the latest announcements for the franchise may have just gotten the biggest spoiler possible. In a throwaway comment during the KosoKoso podcast, historical Dragon Ball editor Kazuhiko Torishima teased that there is a new movie in the works. source https://www.polygon.com/new-dragon-ball-coming-torishima-comment/

JuJutsu Kaisen is one of the most popular shonen anime around, and the upcoming compilation film JuJutsu Kaisen: Execution is a testament to the hype. The majority of the film will recap events from the second half of season 2, which covers the Shibuya Incident arc from the manga. However, Execution also features two episodes from season 3 a month ahead of its premiere. So while it's cool to see Sukuna vs. Mahoraga on the big screen , most folks are grabbing tickets to catch those two episodes early, but one character set to appear may confuse more casual fans. source https://www.polygon.com/yuta-okkotsu-explained-jujutsu-kaisen-execution-season-3/

Netflix has won the bidding war to acquire Warner Bros., including its HBO Max streaming service, beating out rival bids from Comcast (the owner of Universal) and Paramount. source https://www.polygon.com/netflix-warner-bros-deal-acquisition/

The Culling Games officially begin Dec. 5 as Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution gets its wide release in U.S. theaters. Execution includes an abbreviated recap of the entire Shibuya Incident arc, leading right up through the end of season 2 , and, more importantly, the first two episodes of season 3. That means the recap portion will cover all the important details from episodes 30 through 47 of the series and deal with the immediate aftermath of Kenjaku kicking off the Culling Games. source https://www.polygon.com/jujutsu-kaisen-execution-best-jjk-episodes-to-watch/

Choosing the best starting skill and items in Octopath Traveler 0 is tough without the full context of what awaits you in the game. Nonetheless, the game presents you with a bunch of starting choices right at the start of the game, before you even have time to see Wishvale. Should you go for the attack skill or recovery? Grab a nourishing nut, a crested key, or something else? source https://www.polygon.com/octopath-traveler-0-best-starting-skill-and-items/

When the first few episodes of One-Punch Man season 3 debuted to heated criticism, I urged patience . Sure, it didn’t look great, but I had faith that, as the action stepped up in the show, anime studio J.C. Staff would rise up to the task and deliver a memorable season, thus atoning for the sins of season 2 . Eight episodes in, not only have I completely changed my mind and joined the doom prophets, but the much-maligned second season of One-Punch Man now actually looks good compared to the disaster we are witnessing in real time with season 3. source https://www.polygon.com/one-punch-man-season-3-disaster-jc-staff-schedule/

Launching on Dec. 4 for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC, Octopath Traveler 0 adapts the story and combat of the mobile gacha game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent into a premium console RPG. Focused on the continent of Orsterra, where the first Octopath Traveler game took place, Octopath Traveler 0 plays like it was developed under the presumption that “more means better” and that the quality of its parts would make a great final experience. Far from hitting the spot, Octopath Traveler 0 ends up being a meaty RPG, but not necessarily a great Octopath Traveler game. source https://www.polygon.com/octopath-traveler-0-review/

Narrative first-person horror game Horses, from Italian indie developer studio Stanta Ragione, has been hit by another ban. After Steam preemptively banned the game during development, Epic Games Store also refused to distribute the game , just one day before launch. source https://www.polygon.com/horses-game-epic-games-store-ban-steam/

Stump gets a solo song in season 2 of Hazbin Hotel. source https://www.polygon.com/video/hazbin-hotel-patrick-stump-fall-out-boy-song/

CD Projekt Red has reiterated its previously stated ambition to release a trilogy of new Witcher games, starting with The Witcher 4 , within a six-year window. source https://www.polygon.com/cd-projekt-witcher-4-5-6-release-dates/

Steve Harrington was supposed to die in Stranger Things season 1. The beloved character, played by Joe Keery, was originally meant to complete his arc from pompous high school cool kid to genuine hero before meeting his grisly fate at the end of the Netflix show’s first batch of episodes. It was only after series creators the Duffer Brothers saw Keery in action that they expanded the role. Almost a decade later, something similar happened in Stranger Things season 5. source https://www.polygon.com/stranger-things-season-5-dipshit-derek/

Last week's episode of Pluribus has fans asking what the Others' motivations are. source https://www.polygon.com/video/vince-gilligan-pluribus-exodus-the-others/

Paramount wants to keep the Sonic the Hedgehog movie machine running through 2028: A fifth Sonic movie, which appears to be a spinoff, and not necessarily Sonic the Hedgehog 5 , is already on the books, Variety reported Monday. source https://www.polygon.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-2028/

Disney's Zootopia 2 is an unprecedented smash hit . The animated sequel earned $556.4 million in its opening weekend: the biggest debut ever for an animated movie, and the fourth-biggest opening of all time, period. Only Avengers: Endgame , Avengers: Infinity War , and Spider-Man: No Way Home had bigger opening weekends. source https://www.polygon.com/zootopia-2-box-office-china/

You’ve no doubt heard Alex Jordan’s voice in a game you’ve played over the past few years, even if you haven’t recognized it. The star of 2025 survival sim The Alters has more than 100 video game credits to his name, many of them background NPCs in addition to his starring roles in Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series , various Sherlock Holmes games, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard . source https://www.polygon.com/alters-alex-jordan-sex-noises-baldurs-gate-3-bg3/

Vivienne Medrano is playing coy, but the Hazbin Hotel creator says the audience will know what she means. source https://www.polygon.com/video/hazbin-hotel-season-3-villain-tease/