A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on Assassin's Creed Shadows, the DJI Mini 4K drone, Apple AirPods 4, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, July 25, below.
Assassin's Creed Shadows for $29.99
Assassin's Creed Shadows is on sale this weekend for $29.99 at Amazon. As the first game in the series set in feudal Japan, this is one many fans waited years for, and it mostly delivered. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "By sharpening the edges of its existing systems, Assassin’s Creed Shadows creates one of the best versions of the open-world style it’s been honing for the last decade."
DJI Mini 4K for $229
This weekend, you can save 23% off the DJI Mini 4K drone, which is normally priced at $300. This drone is small enough not to require FAA registration, but it's powerful enough to fly for 31 minutes, with support for 10km video transmission and auto return. The DJI Mini is equipped with a 4K camera on a 3-axis gimbal, so you can capture amazing shots in crisp fidelity.
Apple AirPods 4 for $99
Amazon has the Apple AirPods 4 on sale for $99 today. These earbuds feature Spatial Audio, up to five hours of listening time per charge, and so much more. Apple AirPods 5 likely won't be out for a good bit, so now is the perfect time to pick up a pair of new AirPods if your old ones are giving out.
Lego Batman Forever Set for $79.99
The classic Batmobile from Batman Forever is here in Lego form, with a Lego DC Batman minifugure starring the suit used in the move. This weekend, you can save 20% off this 909-piece set, which is a great addition to any comic book fan's collection. The cockpit on the Batmobile opens up to reveal seats and a detailed interior, and you can easily put this vehicle on any shelf or table.
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $39.99
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the very first entry in the beloved Trails series, and this remake from last year brought new life into the original game. Considering 2nd Chapter is set to release in September, this is a great time to pick up 1st Chapter if you've never had a chance to check it out.
Mortal Kombat 4K Limited Edition for $39.99
This 4K blu-ray just released last month, but you can already save big and pick up a copy for $39.99. The Mortal Kombat Kollection comes with both Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Both films have received brand new 4K restorations by Arrow Films, with Dolby Vision support, lossless audio support, and optional English subtitles.
LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Set for $79.99
LEGO Star Wars is bigger than ever, and today, Amazon has the amazing R2-D2 set priced at $79.99, saving you $20. This set features 1050 pieces, plus Darth Malak and R2-D2 minifigures in addition to the major R2-D2 droid. Speaking of, you can rotate R2-D2's head 360 degrees, use its detachable third leg, and more.
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.
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Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi has acknowledged the "open world fatigue" affecting the industry but says Square Enix was "very careful" to make sure fans would have "all the guidance they need" in the new remake chapter – even if it's bigger than the last.
The developer helping lead the finale to its 2027 launch spoke about its size during a conversation with Eurogamer. In the interview, he teased how the team has done its best to tie a bow on the trilogy with one final adventure for Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the rest of the gang in their fight against Sephiroth.
The two previous installments in the remake trilogy – Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth – have been lumped into online conversations about enormous open worlds that sometimes overstay their welcome. Hamaguchi said the concept of open world fatigue is "very important" to him, but it sounds like players won't need to worry about feeling too lost.
"There are a lot of open world games out in the world right now, and [the idea of 'open world fatigue'] is a very important concept to me," he replied when Eurogamer asked about feedback to Rebirth. "It depends on personal preference and different perceptions, but for me personally, I know I've had the experience where I've been thrown out into an open world game and not known where to go, not known where to begin, and not known what to do. But at the same time, the concept of being thrown into this wondrous world where anything goes is amazing."
There are certainly players who would prefer to get lost in a vibrant fantasy universe. In a world promising to be as packed as Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, that idea might be especially enticing. Hamaguchi said that, as a creator, he believes it's important to "offer proper guidance" in open-world games so that players "know what to do, and know where to go."
"In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, we made sure to make it easy for the players to understand how much content there is, and how difficult that content is," he added. "That design philosophy is applied to Revelation: players have all the guidance that they need. This is something that both myself and the development team were very careful about when we designed the game."
It seems Hamaguchi and the rest of the development team wanted to strike a balance when it came to guidance in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. One example he mentioned involved asking players to rely on their memory to make sure they land in their desired location when dropping from the Highwind airship.
"That's another example of the guidance we're giving players, without directing them too much," Hamaguchi continued. "The world is even bigger than it was in Rebirth, so it is more important than ever for us to ensure there's enough guidance here, so people have no issues enjoying what this game has to offer."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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San Diego Comic-Con 2026 has arrived, and we here at IGN will not only be covering all the big news coming out of this weekend, but we are also hosting our own live show that will be filled with exclusive reveals, interviews, and much more from your favorite shows, movies, comics, games, anime, and collectibles.
To ensure you don't miss a thing, we'll be rounding up all the biggest moments right here for you, including Marvel Studios' big return to Hall H ahead of Avengers: Doomsday!
Five Biggest Reveals From the Lanterns San Diego Comic Con Panel
Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy and the cast of Lanterns — Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Garret Dillahunt, and Poorna Jagannathan — joined us at SDCC, and you can check out the five biggest reveals right here (Spoilers Ahead)!
Lanterns: Damon Lindelof Explains the One Rule James Gunn Had For the HBO Series
We had the chance to talk to Lanterns co-creators Damon Lindelof and Tom King about James Gunn's rules for adapting comic book super heroes into movies and television, why Guy Gardner is the main Green Lantern, and what happens when a grizzled Lantern vet like Hal Jordan doesn't want to give up his ring to a younger and more capable Jon Stewart.
Clayface: Everything We Learned At The DCU Horror Movie's Panel
Clayface is bringing horror to the DCU in a big, goopy way. IGN's Tom Jorgensen catches up with Eric Goldman to break down everything director James Watkins and star Tom Rhys Harries had to say about the upcoming movie.
Clayface's F****d Up Practical Horror Proves Anything Is Possible In The DCU
Matt Hagen is ready for his closeup... but trust us, you're not gonna want to get too close. Clayface himself Tom Rhys Harries and director James Watkins joined IGN at SDCC 2026 to discuss the movie's heavy use of practical effects, how Batman: The Animated Series' "Feat of Clay" inspired the film, and whether James Gunn had any specific notes on how Gotham City should be represented in its first live-action DCU appearance.
Nimrods Is Green Day’s First Movie… Will American Idiot Be Their Next?
Legendary punk rockers Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt take the IGN stage with Mason Thames and director Lee Kirk to explain why Nimrods, a movie loosely based on Green Day's early touring days, takes the road trip comedy approach. Plus, now that Green Day's had a taste of seeing their music fueling a movie, we find out whether or not we're any closer to seeing one of their signature albums, American Idiot, adapted for the big screen.
Dan Houser on Physical Games: If People Want That I Think Companies Should Provide It
After working on games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, Dan Houser and Lazlow are now working together again at Absurd Ventures, and the pair stopped by our live show to share updates on their current projects. We also asked them about the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6, the death of physical media, and more.
What Else to Expect From IGN's Live Show at SDCC
Day 1:
Lanterns
Blade Runner 2099
Adventure Time: Side Quests
The Vampire Lestat
Carrie
Regular Show
My Adventures with Superman
Day 2:
The Walking Dead
The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power
Control Resonant
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Mayday
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Halo: Campaign Evolved is basically already here if you pay the early access tax, and while it does look incredible on high-end gaming PCs and current-generation consoles, it struggles hard on lower-end hardware, particularly handheld gaming PCs. I spent a little bit of time playing the remake on the Xbox Ally, and, well, the original Halo campaign looks a whole lot better in the Master Chief Collection.
It shouldn't be too surprising that Campaign Evolved doesn't run super well on low-end handhelds like the Steam Deck. The game calls for a minimum of an Intel Core i7-10700K and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super, both of which are more powerful than the equivalents found in the base Xbox Ally and the Steam Deck. But, for some reason, the Steam page for the game says the game is Steam Deck Verified.
In order to run the game on the Xbox Ally, I set the resolution to 1280x720 and set it to the Very Low preset, with FSR set to Low. With those settings, I'm getting a pretty playable 30 fps, with occasional dips down to the mid 20s. That's probably why the game skated by with a Steam Deck Verified label, I've seen games perform worse and still get that green checkmark.
But while the game is playable at these settings, it's genuinely an eyesore. In order to keep the framerate up, visual fidelity is low, textures are entirely bland, and vegetation and other environmental objects are virtually nonexistent. Plus, the upscaling at this resolution makes the game look like a blurry, staticky mess on top of all of that loss of detail.
And while there are some elements of the game that still look alright, namely walls and other objects having a bit more detail to them, Halo just looks better in the Master Chief Collection, even if it looks like an older game (which it is). Just looking at these screenshots from the second mission when you're fighting off a bunch of Covenant reinforcements, the Campaign Evolved screenshot has a virtually flat environment, with a blurry Elite being shot at. In the Master Chief Collection, the wall on the right doesn't look quite as good, but there's actually vegetation on the ground, and the enemy being shot at doesn't look like as much of a blurry mess.
What makes this even more wild is the performance on offer. With these settings, the Master Chief Collection is getting a solid 65-70 fps most of the time on the Xbox Ally, compared to 25-30 fps in Campaign Evolved. And keep in mind that the Xbox Ally and the Steam Deck have extremely comparable performance.
I love the original Halo – there was a good decade where the only reason I kept a console in my house was to play Halo games. So while I will absolutely be playing this new remake on a high-end PC or even a more powerful handheld like the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, if you want to play this original campaign on the Steam Deck, just download the Master Chief Collection instead.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
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Microsoft's Halo 1 remake is finally out in the wild for those who gained early access by purchasing its Premium or Collector's Editions. Just one day removed from its early launch, that means many have already blown through the game multiple times, and some have even discovered a tease for a Halo 2 remake.
Those who manage to beat Halo: Campaign Evolved on Legendary difficulty will be greeted with a new secret cutscene featuring none other than Sergeant Johnson (via ComicBook). Beginning by showing him watching a clip from the original secret ending, Johnson ditches the Elite to kick up his feat on the beach. Just after catching an explosion on the ring, he makes his exit, but not before dropping that tease: "See you in the sequel."
As if that wasn't already enough, another post-credits tease offers even more evidence to suggest a Halo 2 remake is in the cards. In the scene, players can see 343 Guilty Spark flying toward a planet, likely to meet up with Arbiter and launch into the events of the original sequel game. YouTube channel GamersPrey uploaded the full ending sequence here.
It wouldn't be a surprise to see Halo Studios and Xbox continue with a follow-up – or maybe even two – now that a re-imagining for the original is here. However, the pair have yet to announce a proper Halo 2 remake, so the future of the series in general mostly remains a mystery, for now.
Last week, YouTuber Rebs Gaming and Windows Central reported that the developer had most recently canceled a Halo multiplayer game. The project was said to be being worked on by Certain Affinity under the codename "Ekur." That leaves Halo: Campaign Evolved as the only game to carry single-player fans of the franchise until more is shared in the future.
Halo 2 launched for the original Xbox in 2004 and received the remaster treatment with the Master Chief Collection in 2014. Halo: Campaign Evolved, meanwhile, will deliver its remake of the first game when it launches July 28, 2026. Until then, and until Halo Studios is willing to share more about its potential future remake plans, you can check out IGN's 7/10 review of the new game.
"Halo: Campaign Evolved speaks to the series' timelessness and adds a decent set of new missions," we said, "but it's mostly a lean retread that's more of a test run for its future with Unreal Engine."
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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New (Open Box) Logitech G29 Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PS5 and PC
New (Open Box) Logitech G Driving Force Shifter
The bundle is just $155.99 when you apply the 22% off coupon code "LOGITECH22". Amazon Prime members get free shipping, otherwise you pay $4.99 for the delivery fee.
These items are all open-box models in like-new condition and include a 90-day Woot warranty. Normally priced at $380, this deal saves you 60%, making it the lowest price I've personally seen for this set.
60% Off Logitech G29 Racing Wheel Set and Driving Force Shifter
New (Open Box)
If you're a big fan of racing games like Gran Turismo or Forza Horizon 6 and you've been using a DualSense controller or gamepad this entire time, then this price drop might be the excuse for you to step up your immersion to the next level. The G29 and G920 were already one of the best racing wheels under $300, and definitely the best racing wheels under $200.
Standout features include a gorgeous hand-stitched leather steering wheel with 900 degrees of rotation, sturdy metal base, durable steel ball bearings in the shaft, gear-driven dual-force motor feedback, stainless shifter and pressure-sensitive pedals. The force feedback does an excellent job of simulating providing force and resistance and certain adds to the immersion; if you want something better than this, you'd have to shell out a lot more money for a direct-drive or belt-driven wheel, like Logitech's own $1,000 G Pro direct-drive racing wheel we reviewed.
If you're a PC user and wondering which model to get, PlayStation's G29 model is actually a bit nicer than the Xbox's G920 variant. The G29 has LED shift lights located on the top of the wheel's spokes. These LEDs light up progressively as the car's RPMs rise in-game. The G29 also has a rotary knob on the wheel that can be customized to different functions, like traction control, brake bias, or split differential.
Forza Horizon 6 is out for PC, and it's a Masterpiece
IGN's Luke Reilly awarded the recently released Forza Horizon 6 a well-deserved 10/10 "Masterpiece" review. The latest iteration of the open-world arcade racing franchise allows you to traverse the varied vistas of Japan, from the snowswept mountainous paths of the Japanese Alps to the concrete jungle of the Tokyo Expressway. The game launches with 550 cars for you to customize and tweak, and dozens of single-player and online challenges for you to flex your skill, including the return of the Eliminator battle royale mode.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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In the vast majority of fantasy video games, the world is populated by more than just humans. Mankind is typically accompanied by a range of different species or races, and The Blood of Dawnwalker has no intention of bucking that trend. Vampires are not the only creatures you’ll be bumping into on your journey through Vale Sangora, but that doesn’t mean you’ll find your typical elves and dwarves at the local tavern – this is a place that doesn’t play to the normal rules.
Developer Rebel Wolves has taken a very particular approach to its fantasy worldbuilding. Its sentient races lean far more into ideas established in folklore than they do Tolkien or Dungeons & Dragons. One of the best examples of that is the impish, tooth-thieving sanzhana.
“They play on a lot of tropes around pixies from folklore, but of course with our own twist,” says creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz. “There are a number of quests that utilize them and I'm very excited to see how people will react to them.”
Sanzhana are strange creatures, somewhat akin to moths spliced with small humans, complete with blue skin, white markings, and fuzzy abdomens. And, as our recent gameplay footage demonstrates, they have a curious interest in teeth, so much so they’ll forage from corpses and barter with bandits to obtain their victims’ gnashers.
But why would Coen, our young and noble protagonist, ever indulge a pixie’s request for molars and incisors? Well, the reward could well be much more valuable than a few gold coins. “They allow you to play with the time limit,” Tomaszkiewicz reveals, “because there are a lot of myths around pixies where they get to do some time-bending stuff. And for us, since our game is so heavily revolving around the time system, this was something cool to play around with.”
“I think it's very cool when you do systemic stuff to have exceptions from it and some ways that impact it in ways you didn't anticipate,” he adds. “It creates this feeling that something unexpected might happen at every turn and there are still secrets to be found.”
Sanzhana are powerful, but they’re also rare – you won’t pass by dozens of them as you wander through the world’s villages. Fulfilling a role more similar to that of traditional fantasy game races is the uriashi, a species of towering, beast-like humanoids.
Rebel Wolves has gone to great lengths to create a distinct, believable culture for these mountain giants.
You’ll frequently spot them working alongside humans, providing significant extra muscle for garrisons. But their role in society is relatively new – after being hunted to near-extinction in a previous age, the uriashi only recently re-revealed themselves to humanity.
“They live high up in the mountains in places that were inaccessible to humans,” explains Jakub Szamalek, The Blood of Dawnwalker’s narrative director. “They actually ensure that they are inaccessible, they'd cause a tiny little avalanche to make sure that their secrets are kept safe.” All that considered, actually finding the uriashi’s village on Dawnwalker’s map will be “a whole adventure of its own.”
While the humans of Vale Sangora were largely clueless to the existence of the uriashi, the vampire lord Brencis had already discovered them. “So he showed up at their village and he said, ‘Well, I call the shots now and I'm enlisting you guys’,” reveals Szamalek.
Szamalek and the Rebel Wolves team have gone to great lengths to create a distinct, believable culture for these mountain giants. Their village is made of rocks, moss, and twigs, with houses built to blend in with the mountainside to help maintain their secrecy. As people who spend their winters holed up in caves, they’ve developed incredible patience. And they have their own political structures, which naturally causes some division among their society.
“They're quite conservative,” Szamalek explains. “So the overall feel of the culture is to keep things the way they are and not experiment and that also becomes a bit of a tension in one of the stories.”
But creating a new race is not just about identity and culture – it also requires some thought about how the uriashi interact with their neighbours. That forced Rebel Wolves to consider the uriashi vocabulary and how they sound in conversation.
“They're really intelligent creatures, but they don't know the human language very well,” Szamalek says. “Their vocal situation isn't necessarily conducive to speaking a human language. They struggle to talk and their grasp of grammar is not necessarily very strong.
“I think the first reaction is to take them for dumb brutes,” he adds. “But the more time you spend with them, you realize that they're more sophisticated than that.”
While the uriashi may struggle with human words, they have no such issue with magic – something Coen can take advantage of when interacting with their peoples. Coen can, of course, learn spells, curses, and hexes – they’re one of the three branches of his skill tree. And, if you’ve seen any of those abilities in action, you’ll already know that Rebel Wolves has crafted a very particular approach to the supernatural arts.
“There are no fireballs, there are no lightning bolts, there's no elemental magic in the D&D sense of the word,” explains Szamalek. “It's more like dark voodoo arts. A lot of it revolves around giving your own blood in order to draw from some cosmic power. The visual element of it is subdued.
“You're basically opening a channel of communication with some course that you don't truly comprehend and certainly cannot control,” he adds.
Magic has multiple purposes in Vale Sangora, far beyond Coen’s abilities to increase his running speed and summon spectral birds. One of the monsters we’ve seen, for instance, is the gargoyle, a sort of jury-rigged automaton that Szamalek suggests is the product of magic and a dark imagination.
While there are no doubt more races and creatures to discover in the valley, the last one Rebel Wolves highlighted for me during my IGN First visit to the studio was kobolds, Dawnwalker’s take on a fantasy classic. Among the most famous kobolds in games are World of Warcraft’s candle-capped rat men and the strange reptilians that plague the Nashkel Mines in Baldur’s Gate. Rebel Wolves’ interpretation shares some common ground, but they’re a new twist on the idea, turning them into something akin to dark, chittering goblins.
“They're the nasty little creeps that live in caves and mines,” Szamalek says. “They are sentient, but they're difficult to talk with. They are very impulsive and greedy and vicious, but they have sort of a high mentality. They're unable to think quietly, so whatever they're considering they will say out loud. When dealing with them, this can be used to your advantage because you can sort of see what they're up to, but it also makes coming to some sort of agreement with them difficult because you don't know if they're just thinking about something or if they're actually planning to do it.”
No doubt there are more species to meet than just pixies, uriashi, and kobolds – my conversations with Rebel Wolves have made it clear that our journey will see us meet far more than just humans and dead humans with fangs. And with the sanzhana set to twist time and the uriashi primed to teach us magic, I can’t wait to see what other opportunities each new culture and group can offer.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.
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