Polygon

For as tremendous as FromSoftware games are, none of them are particularly good at co-op. You can’t just invite your friend and join a party in Elden Ring. You need to be in the right place, with the right password, while the right stars in the universe align just to hit monsters with your friends. If it wasn’t for the seamless co-op mod by Yui, Elden Ring’s co-op would be borderline unplayable.

A few months ago, Yui went back and fixed co-op in Dark Souls 3. And now she’s fixed the most important game in FromSoftware’s history: the original Dark Souls.

The first version of the seamless co-op mod for Dark Souls Remastered was released on Thursday. With it, you can play the action RPG that kicked off a whole genre with up to six players. “Simply put, the mod allows you to play with friends throughout the entirety of the game with no restrictions,” Yui wrote in the description on Nexus Mods.

In the announcement video, you can see that it works like the Elden Ring version: You use a custom item in your inventory to summon people into your world at any time. Defeating bosses won’t disband the group like it does normally, and everyone won’t be prevented from interacting with NPCs. It just works.

“Dark Souls 1 was my first Dark Souls game and it has a special place in my heart,” Yui told Polygon over DMs. “I also believe that the interconnected world of the game makes it a truly great candidate for seamless co-op.”

Yui said it was much easier to make than the one for Elden Ring, but that there were a few issues that had to be worked out. Dark Souls came out 11 years before Elden Ring and wasn’t designed to be truly open-world, so players are gated by fog doors during regular co-op. Yui had to work around the game unloading parts of the map when people get too far away from the host, which “took a good amount of reverse engineering to get down,” she said.

Even with those roadblocks, it only took her a week to get the mod running. It’s fully functional right now, but Yui said she’ll continue to fix any reported bugs until its flawless.

Installing the mod requires unzipping some files into the right place and choosing a unique password for everyone to use. Then you’re free to roam around Lordran with your posse of Chosen Undead. And don’t worry about getting banned. The mod doesn’t touch FromSoftware’s servers and uses separate save files. Your co-op crew is safe.

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If you’ve ever considered jumping into the BattleTech tabletop game, right now, Humble is offering an $18 bundle that includes all of the rulebooks you need to start playing, in addition to several sourcebooks, campaigns, and technical manuals to supplement your experience. While you technically don’t need fancy miniatures to play BattleTech, picking up an inexpensive introductory set like the Battletech Beginner Box is a great way to start building out your mini-Lance.

The most important parts of this bundle are the Battlemech Manual, Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition, and BattleTech: Total Warfare, which will get you up to speed on everything you need to play or run your own campaign. However, this bundle also features technical readouts for classic and modern ‘Mechs, in addition to BattleTech: A Time of War, which folds in rules for a more personal TTRPG experience on top of ‘Mech combat.

BattleTech is a massive tabletop franchise that spans roughly a millennium of human history and has even recently announced a new, Warhammer-inspired, set titled BattleTech: Gothic. This bundle, however, sticks to the classic franchise and includes everything you need to set up campaigns, from the Succession Wars stretching all the way into the Ilkhan era.

Humble Bundle sets always put aside a portion of your purchase to benefit a non-profit. This particular bundle will help fund No Kid Hungry, an organization that helps to provide children with nutrition at schools and at home. However, you can always customize how much of your purchase goes to the publisher, to Humble, or to charity by using the “adjust donation” drop-down menu and selecting a custom amount.

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Team-Up abilities are thematically appropriate moves in Marvel Rivals, allowing two or more heroes from the Marvel Universe to pair up and kick ass as a group. These unique effects can be extremely powerful, and can even change the tide of battle if you know what you’re doing.

Season 2 added several new Team-Ups while removing a few others. NetEase Games will continue to add more Team-Ups as the roster grows.

In this Marvel Rivals guide, we’ll walk you through how Team-Ups attacks work and what all the current in-game Team-Ups do.

How do Team-Ups work in Marvel Rivals

As of Season 2, there are 18 Team-Up abilities in Marvel Rivals to go along with the game’s roster of 38 heroes. There are also two newly “unavailable” Team-Ups, which could return in another season, but are currently inaccessible.

Because each Team-Up is unique, they all work a bit differently from one another, but the general idea is that pairing up certain heroes on the same team can offer spectacular benefits (you can see who your hero can use a Team-Up with in the center of your screen during character select).

Some of these benefits are purely passive, like Hela’s Ragnarok Rebirth ability, which allows her to resurrect Thor or Loki mid-combat if they’re on her team. Others, like Rocket Raccoon’s Ammo Overload, add an active ability for either the primary hero (the person supplying the Team-Up) to the secondary heroes (the heroes benefitting the most from the Team-Up).

Most Team-Ups are lopsided, meaning that one hero might not benefit at all from having allies in their Team-Up on the field. The other side, however, may benefit immensely by the presence of their generator ally. Lunar Force, for example, does nothing for Cloak & Dagger while Moon Knight is on their team. However, Cloak & Dagger’s presence allows Moon Knight to occasionally turn invisible, which is an extremely potent effect.

Team-Ups are not required for victory, but they can be extremely powerful, and are worth playing into whenever you get the chance. It’s a good idea to learn several different characters in your preferred role so that you can swap over to support an ally with a Team-Up.

All Team-Up abilities in Marvel Rivals

Below, you’ll find a complete chart for all 18 Team-Ups available in season 2 of Marvel Rivals:

Team-Up NamePrimary heroSecondary hero(es)Team-Up EffectRagnarok RebirthHelaLoki, ThorHela gains a passive ability that allows her, after she secures the final hit on an enemy, to instantly resurrect one of her brothers if they're dead, or give them bonus health if they're living.Planet X PalsGrootRocket Raccoon, Jeff the Land SharkRocket Raccoon and Jeff the Land Shark can interact with Groot to ride around on his shoulders, granting them bonus damage reduction.Symbiote BondVenomSpider-Man, Peni ParkerVenom grants Spider-Man and Peni Parker an active ability, which allows them to channel a symbiote through them, dealing damage to enemies and pushing them back.Gamma ChargeHulkNamor, Iron ManHulk's presence augments Iron Man's Armor Overdrive and Namor's Monstro turret, making them more powerful.Ammo OverloadRocket RaccoonThe PunisherRocket Raccoon gains a bonus ability that allows him to place an ammo device on the ground. This device grants The Punisher faster firing weapons and unlimited ammo while he's nearby.Dimensional ShortcutMagikBlack PantherMagik grants an active ability to Black Panther, which allows him to travel backward in time while also giving him bonus health.Lunar ForceCloak & DaggerMoon KnightCloak & Dagger grant Moon Knight a new active ability, which he can use to become temporarily invisible.Guardian RevivalAdam WarlockMantis, Star-LordAdam Warlock shares his cocoon revival ability with Mantis and Star-Lord, allowing them to revive mid-combat every two minutes.Chilling CharismaLuna SnowJeff the Land SharkLuna Snow grants an active ability to Jeff the Land Shark. This ability infuses Jeff's attacks with a slowing field.Allied AgentsHawkeyeBlack WidowHawkeye grants Black Widow a new active ability, which allows her to spot and damage enemy afterimages.Atlas BondIron FistLuna SnowIron Fist grants Luna Snow a bonus active ability, which causes an ice ring to explode around her when activated. This ring launches enemies up and heals nearby allies.ESU AlumnusSpider-ManSquirrel GirlSpider-Man gives Squirrel Girl a bonus active ability, which allows her to web up enemies via a special web bomb.Storming IgnitionStormHuman TorchStorm and Human Torch can combine their ultimates together to create a massive, flaming tornado.Fastball SpecialWolverineHulk, The ThingHulk or The Thing can agree to team-up with Wolverine with a button press, allowing either of them to throw Wolverine a great distance.Fantastic FourInvisible WomanMister Fantastic, Human Torch, The ThingInvisible Woman grants Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and The Thing a new ability, which gives them increased damage resistance and continually generating bonus health.Arcane OrderDoctor StrangeScarlet WitchDoctor Strange replaces Scarlet Witch's Chthonia Burst with Mystic Burst, an attack that allows her to fire a salvo of missiles.Stars AlignedCaptain AmericaWinter SoldierWinter Soldier gains the ability to jump to a designated ally and do a slam attack. Captain America and Winter Soldier can agree to collide and create a slowing shockwave that damages nearby enemies.Mental ProjectionEmma FrostMagneto, PsylockEmma Frost can link with Magneto and Psylock to create duplicates of either or both, confusing enemies.

Update (April 11): We have removed the unavailable Team-Ups from this chart — Metallic Chaos and Voltaic Union — but will add them back in if they return.

As NetEase Games adds new heroes to Marvel Rivals, new Team-Up abilities will also appear in-game.

For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of maps and modes, plus the Marvel Rivals roadmap.

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Larian Studios is finally ready to say goodbye to Baldur’s Gate 3 with one last update set to go live next Tuesday, April 15.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8, as the expansion is called, focuses on three major updates: an additional sub-class for every main class, cross-play between all platforms, and a photo mode. The developer conducted a handful of community stress tests over the last few weeks, and, ignoring that time the entire update accidentally went live on PlayStation 5, it sounds like Patch 8 is finally ready for public consumption.

The studio plans to celebrate Patch 8’s release with a special livestream hosted by Larian senior communications developer Aoife Wilson and featuring Baldur’s Gate 3 senior systems designer Ross Stephens, who will provide a detailed look at everything the update has to offer.

As Larian Studios won’t be following the 2023 Game of the Year up with Baldur’s Gate 4 — never fear, Hasbro’s already looking for a successor — Patch 8 marks the end of an era for the studio that began all the way back in 2020 when Baldur’s Gate 3 first entered early access.

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Trying to find the best games on PC isn’t easy. Hundreds of them show up every day on places like Steam and Itch.io. It’s hard to keep up. But don’t worry — we’ve got you. This list has the 20 best games on PC you can play right now.

PC games has become even more ubiquitous in the last decade. Not only do console games make their way over more frequently now, surprise hits like Among Us and Lethal Company feel like they can show up at any moment. That’s the beauty of playing games on a such an open platform: It’s always thriving.

You don’t even have to worry about backward compatibility for old games. A lot of them still work, or have been updated by fans. If you never want to leave the frigid mountains of Skyrim, you don’t have to! Plenty of classic games still have a heartbeat and have grown up over the last few decades. Where else can you jump into a 20-year-old MMO like World of Warcraft?

The games below are of a variety of genres and art styles. They can be played for a handful of hours or hundreds of hours, on keyboard and mouse or controller. Handheld PC players should check out our list of the best games on Steam Deck, but several of our picks are certified to run on those too.

Our latest update added Elden Ring.

How we pick the best games on PC

The Polygon staff plays a lot of video games, and everything in this list comes personally recommended by at least one of us. We determined what should be on our list of the best PC games by looking at the quality of each title, but also with an eye for breadth and variety — so you should find something on the list you’ll enjoy, no matter what genres of game you like, how much time you have, or what vibe you are after.

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There are very few flaws with Blue Prince, a new indie puzzle game about exploring a mansion whose room layout changes daily — with said room placement decided by the player as they explore and discover the mysterious properties of each room and the mansion as a whole. The game does have a big problem for a certain segment of players, however, which is that it has color-based puzzles in both the Billiard Room and the Utility Closet, and there’s no setting as yet to make these puzzles more accommodating for colorblind players.

Polygon has reached out to the developer to learn when the color assist mode will be available, but has yet to hear back. At this time, it’s a listed option in the game’s settings, but it’s grayed out, as it has not yet been released. This screen notes that it’s a feature that’s “currently being developed and tested and will be included in a forthcoming update. This is a priority for us, so thank you for your patience.”

There is some minor good news for colorblind folks who don’t want to wait to play this game, however, which is that you don’t need to solve these particular puzzles in order to make progress or even complete the game. [Ed. note: Minor descriptions of the puzzles follow in the next paragraph. If you don’t want to know any details at all about Blue Prince’s puzzles, don’t read on.]

The Billiard Room puzzle, for example, appears every time you choose that room to be included in your daily mansion layout, but you can skip the puzzle that’s in the room and keep on walking through the rest of the mansion and solving the larger mysteries in the game. Solving the daily puzzle in the Billiard Room does reward you with great (different) items every time, but these are items that you can earn through other means. The Utility Closet puzzle is a different situation in that you only need to solve it one time, and then you’re all set, and it also isn’t a puzzle you have to solve to beat the game, but it will give you a specific permanent item-related benefit if you solve it. Asking a friend for help with it might be a good move in the meantime.

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Humble Choice is easily one of the most overlooked gaming subscriptions. Brought to you by the same people responsible for the Humble Bundle, Humble Choice serves up a rotating catalog of DRM-free games that you get to keep forever, in addition to an array of other cool benefits, for just $129 a year, or $11.99 month-to-month. Humble Choice is a fantastic value when compared to the annual cost for services like Game Pass Ultimate ($240) or PSN Plus Extra ($159.99), which don’t let you access their game library when you cancel your subscription.

This month, Humble Choice subscribers get access to the eldritch fishing simulator Dredge, 1000XResist, Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, Aliens: Dark Descent, and four other awesome titles. But if you don’t see something you like, don’t worry. Humble Choice also gives you access to the Humble Vault, which contains over 100 DRM-free titles for you to check out whenever you like. In addition to getting this massive library of PC titles, Humble Choice subscribers also enjoy discounts of up to 20% on select titles from the Humble store (including many first-party titles for the Nintendo Switch).

Like with the company’s other bundles, a portion of your Humble Choice subscription fee goes to support a charity. This month, 5% of your subscription will benefit One Tree Planted, a humanitarian organization that combats deforestation around the world.

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There are 10 skins in the Marvel Rivals season 2 battle pass, most of which fit into a black tie gala theme. While two of these skins are available for free, the other eight require you to purchase the paid “luxury” battle pass, just like in season 1 with the Darkhold.

Below, we’ll show you all skins in the Marvel Rivals season 2 battle pass, plus details about what else is in the battle pass and how many Chrono Tokens each item costs.

Marvel Rivals season 2 skins list: How many skins are in the battle pass?

The season 2 battle pass offers eight unique skins for those willing to purchase the paid “luxury” version. There are two free skins for all players. There are also a variety of other items in the pass, which consist of things you’d find in the skin bundles in the store, like nameplates, sprays, and emotes that go with the various skins.

Here’s the full list of skins in the season 2 battle pass, and the characters they’re for:

Spider-Man: Spider-Oni (page 1)Psylock: Retro X-Uniform (page 1)Squirrel Girl: Nut Rocker (page 2)Magik: Retro X-Uniform (page 3)Black Widow: Red Runway Veil (page 4)Luna Snow: Nolaehaneun Manyeo (page 5)Hellfire Gala gallery card (page 6)Bruce Banner: Joe Fixit (page 7)Captain America: Star Spangled Style (page 8)Iron Fist: Immortal Weapon of Agamotto (page 9)Cloak & Dagger: Dance Partner (page 10)At Your Service gallery card (page 11)100 Units repeatable reward (page 12)

The luxury battle pass for season 2 will run you 990 Lattice, or about $10. The number of skins are identical to the first season, so if you’re curious to see if the luxury battle pass is worth your money, you can check out our breakdown on the worth of the season 1 battle pass.

Regardless of if you own the paid battle pass or the free version, you’ll need to unlock each page in the battle pass by earning Chrono Tokens via in-game missions and objectives. Once you’ve unlocked a page, you can start spending your Chrono Tokens on the items listed there. However, know that you can only purchase a skin on the page once you’ve purchased every other item there. To help make Chrono Tokens easier to get, NetEase Games has added new, weekly quests in season 2.

Here are all skins in the Marvel Rivals season 2 battle pass.

Spider-Man: Spider-Oni (page 1)

Spider-Oni is a Legendary skin for Spider-Man that is instantly unlocked when you purchase the luxury version of the battle pass — no Chrono Tokens required.

If you want his matching MVP screen and goodies, however, you’ll need to unlock them on page 1, detailed below.

Psylock: Retro X-Uniform (page 1)

Found on page 1, Retro X-Uniform is a paid battle pass skin for Psylock. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

All of these items appear on page 1 alongside the Retro X-Uniform and Spider-Oni skins and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Spider-Oni sprayRare Emma Frost nameplateEpic Dancing Petals emoteEpic Spider-Oni nameplate (luxury)Legendary Spider-Man MVP screen: Ninjutsu: Veil of the Snow Spider (luxury)

Squirrel Girl: Nut Rocker (page 2)

Found on page 2, Nut Rocker is a paid battle pass skin for Squirrel Girl. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 2 once you’ve earned 1,200 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 2 alongside the Nut Rocker skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Squirrel Girl Emblem sprayRare Nut Rocker sprayRare Bubble Popper emoteEpic Squirrel Girl MVP screen: Crack Boom Punk! (luxury)Rare Nut Rocker nameplate (luxury)100 Lattice (luxury)

Magik: Retro X-Uniform (page 3)

Found on page 3, Retro X-Uniform is a free battle pass skin for Magik. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 3 once you’ve earned 2,400 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 3 alongside the Retro X-Uniform skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Spider-Man Emblem sprayKrakoa Seedlings collectibleRare Magik Emblem spray100 Units (luxury)Rare Ultron nameplate100 Lattice (luxury)

Black Widow: Red Runway Veil (page 4)

Found on page 4, Red Runway Veil is a paid battle pass skin for Black Widow. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 4 once you’ve earned 3,600 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 4 alongside the Red Runway Veil skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Black Widow Emblem sprayRare Red Runway Veil nameplateRare Cloak & Dagger Emblem sprayEpic Black Widow MVP screen: Elegance in Motion (luxury)Rare Arachnid Allure emote (luxury)Rare Red Runway Veil spray (luxury)

Luna Snow: Nolaehaneun Manyeo (page 5)

Found on page 5, Nolaehaneun Manyeo is a paid battle pass skin for Luna Snow. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 5 once you’ve earned 4,800 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 5 alongside the Nolaehaneun Manyeo skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

100 LatticeRare Captain America spray100 UnitsRare Luna Snow Emblem sprayRare Nolaehaneun Manyeo nameplate100 Units (luxury)

Hellfire Gala gallery card (page 6)

There are no battle pass skins on page 6. The only item on the page, the Hellfire Gala gallery card, requires you to have earned 6,000 Chrono Tokens during the season to purchase it for 600 Chrono Tokens.

Bruce Banner: Joe Fixit (page 7)

Found on page 7, Joe Fixit is a paid battle pass skin for Bruce Banner. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 7 once you’ve earned 7,200 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 7 alongside the Joe Fixit skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

100 UnitsRare Hulk Emblem sprayRare Joe Fixit nameplateRare Bruce Banner emote: Coin Trick (luxury)Epic Bruce Banner MVP screen: Sin City Showcase (luxury)Rare Joe Fixit spray (luxury)

Captain America: Star Spangled Style (page 8)

Found on page 8, Star Spangled Style is a paid battle pass skin for Captain America. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 8 once you’ve earned 8,400 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 8 alongside the Star Spangled Style skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Captain America emote: Dapper DefenderRare Star Spangled Style sprayFlowers of Krakoa collectibleEpic Captain America MVP screen: Dashing Duel (luxury)100 Lattice (luxury)Rare Star Spangled Style nameplate (luxury)

Iron Fist: Immortal Weapon of Agamotto (page 9)

Found on page 9, Immortal Weapon of Agamotto is a free battle pass skin for Iron Fist. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 9 once you’ve earned 9,600 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 9 alongside the Immortal Weapon of Agamotto skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

Rare Iron Fist emote: His Will100 UnitsRare Immortal Weapon of Agamotto spray (luxury)Rare Immortal Weapon of Agamotto nameplate (luxury)Epic Iron Fist MVP screen: Shadow of Agamotto (luxury)100 Lattice (luxury)

Cloak & Dagger: Dance Partner (page 10)

Found on page 10, Dance Partner is a paid battle pass skin for Cloak & Dagger. You can purchase it for 400 Chrono Tokens once you’ve purchased all the other items on the page.

You’ll unlock the ability to purchase items from page 10 once you’ve earned 10,800 Chrono Tokens during the season.

All of these items appear on page 10 alongside the Dance Partner skin and cost 200 Chrono Tokens each:

100 Lattice100 UnitsEpic Cloak & Dagger emote: Whimsical WaltzRare Dance Partner spray (luxury)Epic Dance Partner nameplate (luxury)Legendary Cloak & Dagger MVP screen: Duality Duet (luxury)

At Your Service gallery card (page 11)

There are no battle pass skins on page 11. The only item on page 11, the Ages of Ultron gallery card, requires you to have earned 12,000 Chrono Tokens during the season to purchase it for 600 Chrono Tokens.

100 Units repeatable reward (page 12)

New in season 2, you’ll be able to continue grinding the battle pass once you reach the end. After unlocking all other rewards for a given battlepass, you can spend 1,000 Chrono Tokens to receive 100 Units. You can repeat this reward multiple times.

For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s everything you need to know about all known codes and a look at the game’s roadmap.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

For longtime movie-lovers Ryan Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni, the 2020 lockdowns turned a New Jersey attic into a welcome creative pressure cooker. The pair always dreamed of making a movie, but the uncertainty of the moment — not to mention the tight quarters — created a sense of urgency. Under duress, vibes came pouring out.

The result was Gazer, an icy, paranoid neo-noir thriller peppered with elaborate horror visuals. It follows single mother Frankie Rhodes (Mastroianni) as she battles a rare neurological condition and a ticking custody clock — all while unraveling a mystery laced with conspiracy. At times, Frankie’s blurred perspective swirls the reality of Gazer into full-blown horror.

Producing their script wasn’t a guarantee of making a movie. When they exited the attic, Sloan, a former electrician, and Mastroianni, a working actor and musician, hustled to actually do the thing. They financed the film entirely on their own, juggling minimum-wage jobs to scrape together a budget and shooting the 16mm odyssey on the weekends. Gazer isn’t just a debut feature — it’s a defiant throwback to how indies used to be made, and an ode to the movies, from slow-cinema classics to splatter horror flicks, that inspired Sloan and Mastroianni to embark on the journey in the first place.

Sitting down with Polygon ahead of Gazer’s theatrical release, the collaborators reflect on the determination — and gross-out special effects — required to realize their dream. The pair also shared some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from their big nightmare-sequence shoot.

Polygon: Gazer is quite slick for a debut feature. And you got into Cannes last year! How did you find the confidence to just go off and make it on your own?

Ryan Sloan: We’ve always wanted to make a movie. I think it appears we just kind of stumbled into it, but we’ve been studying and training on our own for many, many years. Ariella has been training as an actress since she was a kid, and I’ve been just consuming films with my mother and my friends growing up. I’ve always wanted to direct, but I didn’t think it was possible. Life gets in the way. You start doing something and suddenly 15, 20 years go by. Then there’s a pandemic, and you’re like, Hey, what the fuck are we doing? The world could end tomorrow and we’re still not doing anything remotely close to where we want to be or what we’ve dreamed about.

So how do we rectify that? We decide to just sit down and talk about where our mutual tastes lie. And luckily it was all in the same world.

How did you wind up making a movie about this particular woman, suffering from a very particular psychological disorder, which still has room for a dream sequence involving a flesh gun? Gazer goes a lot of places for a first movie!

Ariella Mastroianni: It all came out of the character study, the kind of examination of this woman who is going through such trauma. The reason why we treated the nightmare sequences the way we did is because the whole film is from Frankie’s perspective. This is a window into her psyche — how does it feel for her? How does that translate? How do we want the audience to feel? And I feel like if it is a nightmare for Frankie, it should feel like a nightmare for the audience. But as we’re writing, every time we approach a scene, we always ask ourselves, “Is this real? Is this honest? Is it fun?”

Sloan: And there were definitely moments where we would say, “This isn’t the movie we want to make,” and we would get rid of those ideas. The full flesh-gun, flesh-box thing was definitely just born out of Frankie trying to interpret her haunted past.

Ariella, did you know you would play Frankie while you were writing? Did you write a part you wanted to play?

Mastroianni: Because Ryan and I were co-writing, I forgot that we were writing for me, in a way. We were only focused on Frankie’s journey. Who is this person? I would kind of fill those details out later. But it’s a lot of the references for Frankie were male actors. So Gene Hackman in The Conversation or Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, the actor playing Jong-su. We had Alien, Sigourney Weaver. Or Björk in Dancer in the Dark. But yeah, I wasn’t really writing for myself. I’m very different from Frankie.

How much of the look of the film was born from wanting to make the type of movie you like to watch versus whatever the story demanded? There’s a clear love for a certain type of film bursting out of the seams of Gazer**, but it also feels intentional.**

Sloan: We used the way The Wrestler was shot as the rubric of what we would do in the real world. So we knew it would be handheld, we’d be following Frankie nonstop, and it would be a little manic here and there. When we’re in Frankie’s apartment, the camera’s still handheld, but it doesn’t move. It doesn’t pan. It doesn’t tilt, because that is the only place where she feels comfortable. In the nightmare sequences, we’re always on [tripod] sticks or steadicam, and we wanted to create a very symmetrical look throughout the nightmare sequence. So it always felt very haunting.

We also pushed the film stock as well to create this kind of ’80s grindhouse look, which is fun. But I think once we discovered in the writing process that we could go experimental in these nightmare sequences, it just got me very excited about the ’80s schlocky films that I grew up watching. Robert Bottin’s special effects on The Thing were a big influence. We were trying to do more of that, but obviously budgetarily, we couldn’t afford it. It’s expensive to do practical effects even if you’re doing them at such a small scale as us. The flesh gun was supposed to be the only Videodrome reference. The hand through the chest was trying to rip off The Juniper Tree with Björk!

[The special effects were] hard to crack the code on, and on the day, we worked with what we had. It was funny, with the nightmare stuff, because our entire team was not on our side. While we were doing that, our DP was like, “Listen, just when you get the footage back and you put it in, you see it with the edit, just be open-minded to maybe get rid of it.” [laughs]

How did you wind up with the nightmare sequences? Was it clear Gazer would have some horror DNA from the beginning?

Mastroianni: I find those sequences to be the most essential in terms of Frankie’s emotional life and her psyche. She’s dealing with two of the most physical things: She’s dealing with the death of her husband and the birth of her daughter. We’re presenting the film from Frankie’s perspective, and it feels to her like a nightmare — that’s what we kept saying during the writing process, “Everything that happened to Frankie is such a nightmare, and we should present it that way. We should allow genre or use genre to elevate the sense of Frankie haunted by something that she had done.” So yeah, once we allowed ourselves to do that, we just went with it and had so much fun.

Sloan: I love horror. Horror is one of my favorite genres I go to the movies for. Even if it’s a bad horror movie, I’m happy.

Mastroianni: Also, it presents you with something that’s, to me, more real than what reality is. Sometimes, if you are representing something very realistically, it’s like the kind of poetic system of genre, and horror, and all of it. It reveals more truth than I think the truth itself, in a way.

Gazer is out now in limited release.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

This story was first published in Switchboard, a newsletter from Polygon that delivers all the latest Switch 2 news, reporting, and rumors directly to your inbox. Sign up here to get it weekly.

One of the big new features that Nintendo touted at last week’s Switch 2 reveal was GameChat, a built-in communication system that — as long as you pay for Nintendo Switch Online — will let players communicate via voice and video chat, and share streams of gameplay with each other.

People who play online games seriously have been doing this for many years, through services like Discord, Ventrilo, and Steam. Nintendo’s own solutions for voice and video chat have been underbaked and experimental over the past two decades, and the arrival of GameChat is a sign that the company is finally taking voice and video chat seriously.

It’s not for lack of trying. Nintendo brought voice chat to some of its games as early as 2006, through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. But unlike with GameChat, Nintendo has often approached voice and video chat on a game-by-game basis, or it has offloaded chat to external apps.

But as Nintendo’s Sumikazu Ono, who was in charge of overseeing development of the Switch 2’s built-in features, says in an interview on Nintendo’s website, the goal for GameChat was “no setup required.”

“Voice or video chat for gaming often involves a little extra work in setting up the equipment,” explains Nintendo’s Yoshitaka Tamura in that same interview. “But Switch 2 has a built-in microphone, so you can easily use voice chat, and the Nintendo Switch 2 camera, which is sold separately, is simple to use with a setup that is not too complicated.”

That’s a far cry from how Nintendo first handled voice chat. When Nintendo implemented chat in games like Metroid Prime Hunters, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, players needed to input a 12-digit Friend Code to add another player to their friends list in order to chat with them. Voice chat in those Nintendo DS games was limited to certain modes, clumsy, and of low quality.

Nintendo later developed a proprietary microphone for the Wii called Wii Speak, which was supported by about a dozen games for the system, including Animal Crossing: City Folk and Monster Hunter Tri. Nintendo even created a dedicated Wii Speak Channel for the console, but chat features were limited to users who had shared Friend Codes with each other.

Nintendo tried voice chat again on Wii U, with Wii U Chat, which included video powered by the system’s GamePad, which had a built-in camera and microphone. Wii U Chat was limited, but it included a fun feature: Users could draw on the screen to share messages with anyone on the other end of a call. (Wii U Chat shut down alongside MiiVerse in 2017.)

For the Switch, Nintendo decided to let a smartphone app handle voice chat. Again, it was only supported in certain games, and Nintendo’s solution was imperfect. Many users opted not to use Nintendo’s app, and stuck with existing communication apps like Discord to handle their real-time chats.

Voice chat via the Nintendo Switch Online app was the latest example of Nintendo’s cautiousness when it comes to online interactions. Nintendo also released a Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app, which lets parents control game time and whether children can use features like voice chat. The Parental Controls app can let parents approve who a child can GameChat with on a user-by-user basis.

Nintendo finally seems slightly more comfortable with online interactions, given that it’s implementing them more broadly at the system level with Switch 2. That’s likely a reflection of just how commonplace video chat has become — especially since GameChat was developed starting in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and when Zoom became the go-to way for friends and companies to communicate. Thanks to existing Nintendo Accounts, which have been in use for years now by tens of millions of players, it will be easier than ever to connect with voice and video chat on a Nintendo console. There’s a whole button dedicated to it.

For Switch 2 owners who are as cautious as Nintendo’s been over the past two decades, Takuhiro Dohta, senior director at Nintendo EPD’s programming management group, said in a Q&A in New York City last week that “you won’t find yourself in a situation where you’ll be placed in a chat with strangers. And in terms of the friend list, you can import it from the Nintendo Switch so that you can do some fine tuning and adjusting [of users], because there’s bound to be people who like to chat and there’s people who don’t prefer to chat.”

So while Nintendo’s voice chat growing pains have been very visible (and often frustrating) for multiple console generations, much of that awkwardness appears to have been eliminated for Switch 2. Just remember, though, GameChat will only be free for a limited time. You might want to keep the Nintendo Switch Online app installed on your phone if you don’t feel like paying to chat with your friends.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Safes can be found around the estate in Blue Prince, either out in the open or hidden to the eye, but you’ll need a safe code to open each one.

Each safe code can be found by using information from its respective room and around the estate, but coming up with the safe code is a puzzle in itself. Additionally, without a few critical hints, these codes are impossible to figure out. Once you open a safe, though, you’ll find one of the red letters, which will add some important lore to the Blue Prince story.

In this Blue Prince guide, we’ve detailed where to find all of the safes we’ve found so far, along with their safe codes and the thought process behind them.

[Ed. note: This guide contains spoilers for Blue Prince. If you only want to see the code to a specific safe, use the table of contents below to navigate to it.]

All Safe Codes in Blue Prince

Prior to giving you the safe locations along with their codes, you should know that you’ll receive a hint for each safe’s solution after completing the puzzle found in the Study Room. If you’d like to attempt to solve each safe code, make sure to finish that puzzle first!

We’ve found seven safes, each one containing a red letter, so far and we’re missing just one, which Blue Prince players broadly assume is located in a hidden safe somewhere around the estate. As of this writing, to the best of our knowledge, no players have found that safe (if it even exists). Check back later!

The seven safes can be found in the Shelter, Boudoir, Study, Office, Drafting Studio, Drawing Room, and behind a Red Door.

SafeCodeRewardShelterTime and dateRed letter #7 and a gemBoudoir1225Red letter #4 and a gemStudy0812Red letter #2 and a gemOffice0303Red letter #8 and a gemDrafting Studio1108Red letter #5Drawing Room0415Red letter #6 and a gemBehind the Red DoorMAY8Red letter #1, a gem, and the Treasure Trove blueprint

How to open the Shelter Time-Lock Safe

The Shelter’s time-lock safe functions a little differently than the other safes in Blue Prince. To open this safe, you’ll need to know the time and date. The first day you arrived to the estate is November 7, so you can add your total number of days minus one to November 7 to get today’s date.

On a day you’ve drafted the Shelter as your Outer Room, input today’s date and a time that is at least one hour ahead. Once the clock hits your assigned time, you’ll have four hours to return and see what’s inside the safe.

Boudoir safe code

The Boudoir safe, found in the corner of the room, is out in the open and taunting you. However, with the knowledge that codes are related to dates, you can use the Christmas photo on the vanity to solve the code.

Interact with the safe and input 1-2-2-5 to open the safe.

Study safe code

The Study safe is also out in the open, just sitting and belittling you for not being able to find out its secret code. With the knowledge that the safe code is a date, but also that there are no dates of any kind inside the room, it’s a tough one. Instead, look at the chess board on the table to find a black King piece sitting on D8.

This can be interpreted phonetically as “date” — or December 8. Input 0-8-1-2 into the safe to open it and claim its rewards.

Office safe code

The Office safe will only reveal itself after you’ve turned the dial inside the desk drawer, which also includes a paper featuring book titles such as “Count on March.”

In this room, you can find numerous statues of people related to the estate, but one of the heads is more important than the others — Count Isaac Gates. If you’ve never been to the Foyer, you might’ve never known what Count Isaac Gates’ bust looked like, but you can find three small Gates around the room.

Adding the three small Gates with the book title “Count on March,” and you’ll get the safe code: 0-3-0-3.

Drafting Studio safe code

Inside the Drafting Studio, you’ll find a perfect but miniature replica of a safe on one of the dioramas on a desk. Interacting with the safe will tell you its a perfect replica, but if you interact with the safe while you have a magnifying glass, you’ll see that it can be opened.

Next, with your magnifying glass, interact with the November calendar on the wall to find eight small gates around the Apple Orchard. If you combine the eight gates with the month of November, you’ll get 1-1-0-8.

Drawing Room safe code

The Drawing Room safe is not visible until you take a closer look at the drawing in the center of the room. In this drawing, you’ll notice that one of the candleabra’s arms on the fireplace is misaligned. Interact with the candleabra to reveal the safe behind one of the drawings inside the room.

For this safe code, you’ll have to look at each drawing’s small gait, which is how a person moves. There are two drawings with small gaits — the woman in a dress and man with an umbrella. Around the room, you can find four drawings of the woman and 15 drawings of the man, so if you combine the two, you’ll get the safe code 0-4-1-5.

Behind the Red Door lock code

For those who’ve reached the Inner Sanctum, you might’ve noticed a locked red door on the way. Behind the red door, you’ll find a locked gate that has a letter lock, but also has an “8” on the last dial. Knowing that each lock’s code is a date, the “8” is the day and the rest of the three dials need to make up the month.

The only month that fits in the first three dials, including each month’s abbreviation, is the month of May — making the lock code M-A-Y-8.

For more Blue Prince guides, see our full walkthrough on how to reach Room 46, or check out our guides on where to find all Antechamber levers, sheet music pages, and blue braziers.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

The Marvel Rivals tier list is proof of an inherent truth: not every hero (or villain) is built equally. In the competitive shooter’s season 1 (which added four characters, three maps, a battle pass, and skins), every character is technically viable, but there are some who are obviously more powerful than the rest.

Below, we’ve compiled a tier list showing the current Marvel Rivals meta (as of the release of season 1.5), giving each character a rank from “best of the best” (S-tier) to “avoid at all costs” (F-tier). Read on for the full Marvel Rivals tier list for season 1 as of the midseason update.

[Ed. note: Season 2 for Marvel Rivals started on April 11, introducing Emma Frost (a new vanguard) and a new map. Both of those things are sure to shake up the meta, but we’ll need some time before the dust settles to see exactly how things change. In the meantime, see below for the Marvel Rivals tier list as of season 1.5.]

Marvel Rivals season 1.5 tier list of best characters

Season 1.5 of Marvel Rivals sees the game in quite a healthy spot, with only nine characters falling in C-tier or below. For a game with 37 heroes, you’re hard-pressed to find a “bad” one — outside of maybe one.

While the tier list above (which we constructed in Tiermaker) showcases a general view of the season 1.5 update, we’ve broken down each rank in tables below, including brief explanations for why each character belongs in the tier we’ve placed them.

Finally, it’s worth noting here that tiers can look different at different ranks, with some high rank heroes barely being played in low ranks, and some low rank dominators falling off significantly at higher elo levels. As it’s still fairly early in season 1.5, this list is likely to change within a week or so, as the meta won’t cement until closer to season 2’s launch in a few more weeks.

S-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

As a rule, S-tier heroes are those that you should absolutely know how to play if you main their given role. Understanding how your Team-Up abilities work with all of these heroes is crucial to success — you’ll be seeing a lot of them in your games.

CharacterRoleWhy they're S tierDoctor StrangeVanguardDoctor Strange is one of the hardest to kill heroes in Marvel Rivals, and is exceptional at shielding his allies from big blasts. Paired with his unique portal and extremely powerful ultimate, he's a hard pick to beat for top tank.HelaDuelistHela is one of the most consistent damage dealers in the game if you're capable of hitting your shots. She can take down target after target and has some great Team-Ups.Invisible WomanStrategistInvisible Woman can pump out a lot of healing and control the battlefield with her various crowd control moves. Even better, her invisibility makes her difficult to lockdown and kill.LokiStrategistLoki is a lot of work to get right, but in the right hands, he is nearly impossible to kill and pumps out a lot of healing. His ultimate is also the best in the game, as it allows him to mirror any other character.Luna SnowStrategistLuna Snow has the best ultimate in Marvel Rivals, making all combat stop the moment she hits it. On top of this, she has great healing, damage, and stuns.MagnetoVanguardMagneto is the definition of a consistent tank. He's very hard to kill when he's playing selfishly, but can extend some of that safety to allies to make them much tankier during big moments.NamorDuelistNamor and his pets can deal massive amounts of damage from afar, rivaling characters like Hela. But what makes Namor so great is his immunity bubble, which lets him survive divers.Star LordDuelistStar Lord can dish out a lot of damage in a short amount of time, and he's very fast. That's a potent combo, and paired with his ultimate, it makes him a great choice for duelist players.StormDuelistStorm has one of the most powerful ultimates for a duelist in the game, and can guarantee kills or an empty objective zone. Paired with her quasi support abilities and season 1 buffs, she's become a menace overnight.Winter SoldierDuelistWinter Soldier is best known for his ultimate, which he can repeat multiple times to wipe teams. However, his hook and powerful primary fire make him a menace even while charging his ultimate.WolverineDuelistWolverine is the ultimate tank buster character, and is able to abduct high health targets and kill them away from their team. He strikes fear into the hearts of all tank mains.

A-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

Generally, A-tier heroes are great. They’re not the best heroes, nor do they come out on top in the. meta, but they’re extremely solid. All of these are heroes that anyone should be thankful to have on their team, but likely won’t catch a ban as you reach the higher ranks.

CharacterRoleWhy they're A tierCaptain AmericaVanguardCaptain America is an extremely versatile tank, capable of both blocking big hits to protect his team and dishing out damage to solo players who he catches alone.GrootVanguardGroot can technically do more damage than any other tank in the game, with his powerful walls. But his real value is as a frontline beast with a ton of health and powerful crowd control.Hulk/Bruce BannerVanguardHulk is extremely mobile and very difficult to kill in Marvel Rivals. He's a menace in the backline with massive damage and is able to protect his own supports with shields.MagikDuelistMagik is both slippery and great at dealing with multiple backline targets at once. This makes her a real menace for duelists and strategists, and she basically requires a tank to help their team deal with her.MantisStrategistMantis both helps her team deal loads of damage with her boost and keeps them healthy with heals over time. Paired with the second best healing ultimate, she's a great choice.PsylockeDuelistPsylocke is able to dive into the backline of the enemy team to get kills or attack from range, which makes her very versatile. Her ultimate is also extremely powerful and can shut down objective areas.Spider-ManDuelistSpider-Man is capable of dishing out a lot of damage and destroying a backline. While he takes a lot of work to learn, the results are worth it in the current meta.The ThingVanguardThe Thing is a difficult tank to deal with because of his crowd control immunities, which makes him effectively unstoppable.ThorVanguardThor is a fantastic bully tank, and can deal massive damage if he's given the support he needs to survive the enemy.VenomVanguardVenom is a highly mobile dive tank, and is able to quickly reach the backline. He doesn't deal a ton of damage, but acts as a powerful distraction for his enemies.

B-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

The B-tier heroes bring a lot to the table, but are situational and niche. Some of these heroes can be A- or S-tier in the right situation, but they just aren’t of the same caliber as the heroes above them in a general setting.

CharacterRoleWhy they're B tierAdam WarlockStrategistAdam Warlock is a very technical strategist, who is capable of dealing big damage and keeping his allies alive. His normal play is great, but his ultimate is capable of swinging entire games on its own.Black PantherDuelistBlack Panther is both fast and consistent, which is what you want in a duelist. He's also much easier to play than most of the other duelists.Cloak & DaggerStrategistCloak & Dagger offer very powerful heals and some pretty decent damage, all in a relatively easy to play package.HawkeyeDuelistHawkeye requires accurate aim, but he's the only hero capable of regularly one-shotting squishy targets, which makes him very valuable to a team.Peni ParkerVanguardPeni Parker is a very potent tank in the right situation. On defensive maps, she's able to hold the zone better than almost any other character.Iron ManDuelistOn his own, Iron Man is a decent hero that can dish out lots of damage, and has a powerful ultimate that can shut down anyone. Paired with his Hulk Team-Up, he is even more powerful.The PunisherDuelistThe Punisher is the shooter character in Marvel Rivals, and is able to shred through enemies with his two guns. His kit is a little limited, but he has what he needs to succeed in most situations.

C-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

The C-tier heroes are ones that just don’t seem worth playing when you compare them to the other options. However, they’re still playable, and viable on some teams or when used by certain players. You could really surprise the enemy team with a C-tier pocket pick, but you’d probably be better off learning a better hero altogether.

CharacterRoleWhy they're C tierIron FistDuelistIron Fist has extremely high burst potential and is very slippery. He does take a bit of practice to fully understand, but a good Iron Fist can destroy your backline in seconds.Jeff the Land SharkStrategistJeff has decent support capabilities with his normal kit, but the lack of a good healing ult really hurts him. Even so, his ultimate can win games if enemy players aren't paying attention.Moon KnightDuelistMoon Knight has a ton of area damage, making him capable of wiping and entire team if they're not careful. His Ankhs are easy to shutdown, but they’re on a low enough cooldown that he’s always getting decent damage out.Rocket RaccoonStrategistRocket Raccoon is able to automatically revive players with his B.R.B. device, which is a very powerful effect. Paired with decent healing and decent damage, he's a great pick when the S tiers are unavailable.Squirrel GirlDuelistSquirrel Girl is a very simple character, but her explosive nuts deal a lot of damage with very little effort. Her reworked ultimate in season 1 is also quite strong and can hunt down enemies.

D-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

Heroes in the D-tier are, quite frankly, pretty subpar. Not so bad that you’re going to automatically lose if you have one on your team, but bad enough that you should probably be picking a better option.

CharacterRoleWhy they're D tierBlack WidowDuelistBlack Widow can't one-shot targets, she struggles to have awareness around here because she's forced into first-person, and her ultimate is not great.Human TorchDuelistHuman Torch is capable of doing good damage, especially in his Team-up. However he’s hamstrung by his lack of mobility, which makes him an easy target for some of the most powerful duelists in the game.Scarlet WitchDuelistScarlet Witch does very low damage over time, even if that damage is reliable because it doesn't require aim. When paired with an ultimate that's powerful but very easy to encounter, she just doesn't bring enough value to a team.

F-tier characters in Marvel Rivals season 1.5

Heroes in the F-tier are bad and you shouldn’t play them. And while you should never flame your teammates in games like Marvel Rivals, you should be concerned if someone picks one of these heroes, as it’s a little too close to playing 4v5.

CharacterRoleWhy they're F tierMister FantasticDuelistMister Fantastic is a hybrid damage dealer and tank, but he's a bit too hybrid at the moment, so he isn't good at either role.

For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of all known codes, all Team-Up abilities, all maps and modes, and a look at the game’s roadmap.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Visitors to the sprawling theme-park ecosystem of Orlando, Florida will soon be able to ride what’s become one of the most talked about roller coasters on the planet, without booking an overseas trip to Japan. Epic Universe, Universal’s brand new theme park, opens on May 22, 2025 with Donkey Kong Country, a near-replica of the park that opened last year at Universal Studios Japan.

Donkey Kong Country is the only “portal-within-a-portal” at Epic Universe, meaning that you access the area by first going through a Super Nintendo World warp pipe entrance, then through another large “portal” toward the back of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Once through, visitors are transported into a lush, tropical landscape littered with barrels, palm trees, and piles of bananas. Guests can stop at the Bubbly Barrel, the area’s quick service eatery, for refreshments, like a Pineapple Banana Dole Whip. Music enhances the area’s ambience as various songs from the Donkey Kong games provide a banging bongo beat that reverberates throughout.

At the center is the imposing Golden Temple that houses the area’s only ride: the Donkey Kong themed roller coaster, Mine-Cart Madness.

On this ride, you board a 4-seater vehicle resembling a mine cart that appears to “jump” across mangled tracks, replicating Donkey Kong Country’s infamous rail-jumping level. The technology that brings this rail-jumping effect into real life is Universal’s patented “Boom coaster” concept. The ride vehicle is attached to an arm that extends far above the coaster’s real track, allowing ride designers to place fake minecart rails between riders and the coaster’s actual track.

This unique ride system has had the roller coaster community buzzing ever since the patent was made public as it really opens the floodgates for incredibly elaborate roller coaster theming. The patent even demonstrates several possibilities in addition to the rail-jumping effect, like gliding on clouds or jumping over obstructions on false tracks.

The unfortunate tradeoff with this new technology is that itmakes the ride a bit bumpy and shaky, especially considering it’s a brand new roller coaster that hasn’t officially opened to the public yet. Since the center of gravity of each vehicle is so high above the real coaster track, the slightest bounce, shake or jolt is accentuated and amplified; similar to how a skyscraper’s top floors sway more than its foundation when facing high winds.

After riding it for myself, I would say Mine-Cart Madness is not a ‘headbanger,’ that’ll rattle you until you puke, but even employees warned of the ride’s roughness compared to the park’s other family roller coasters.

While the rail-jumping effects are uncanny, the ride is much more tame than you might expect. This is no white-knuckle roller coaster. Mine-Cart Madness is more of a family ride that relies on its special effects to provide its thrills.

The first big moment of the ride involves an ascent to the ride’s highest point where your mine cart vehicle is shot out of a classic Donkey Kong barrel cannon. Despite the effects and fanfare, you’re not launched through the air at high speeds and instead slowly glide from the barrel cannon onto a set of tracks and into the ride’s first tunnel.

The ride never flips upside down and never sends riders backwards like many of the other Epic Universe coasters. While Universal hasn’t yet publicized the ride’s top speed, it felt slower than the park’s most kid-friendly coaster, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, which has a top speed of 45mph. (We reached out to Universal for specifics on Mine-Cart Madness’s top speed but did not hear back in time for publication.) The ride’s height requirement also reflects that this coaster is suitable for young children as it’s only 40 inches. (Although, kids under 48 inches must be accompanied by a supervising adult.)

Despite its bumps, Mine-Cart Madness is still a stellar attraction due to its innovative technology and incredibly elaborate theming. It’s clear that Universal’s designers worked closely with Nintendo to ensure the ride stayed true to the iconic franchise for diehard fans, while also offering a world-class themed experience for families. It’s just a bit concerning that the ride experience is already feeling a bit rough before opening day, as no roller coaster gets smoother as it ages.

*[****Disclosure:***Reporting for this article was conducted out of a press event held at Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida on April 5. Universal provided Polygon’s accommodations for the event. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.]

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Marvel Rivals is a competitive game set in the multiverse, so it’s fitting that you play on a number of different maps.

As of season 2 (which added a new character from the X-Men comics, Emma Frost), there are now 11 maps in Marvel Rivals, all inspired by locations from the Marvel Comics universe. You’ll play three modes across those maps.

There are also two arcade modes and maps, which offer a different gameplay style using the same heroes. Developer NetEase Games says it will add more maps and modes via the seasonal model for Marvel Rivals.

In this Marvel Rivals guide, we’ll walk you through all maps in Marvel Rivals season 2, alongside descriptions of the modes you’ll play on those maps.

All Marvel Rivals game modes in season 2

There are three main game modes in Marvel Rivals — Convoy, Domination, and Convergence — each played on specific maps, and available in both quick match and ranked. Here’s a rundown of the available game modes in Marvel Rivals as of season 2:

In Convoy, your team will be randomly assigned offense or defense to start. As offense, your objective is to escort a cart or moving object through the map by standing near it, which the defenders will attempt to stop by killing you and your teammates. If the offensive team escorts the convoy to the end of the map within a time limit, they win.In Domination, your team and the enemy team will attack a single point on one of a handful of small maps. Whoever captures the point must hold it until it reaches 100%. Whoever captures the point will take the lead. The mode will then jump to another small map and repeat the objective. The first team to reach two captured points wins.In Convergence, your team will randomly be assigned offense or defense to start. As offense, your objective is to attack the first checkpoint on the map and secure it by standing inside. Defenders will be able to reach the point before you, and their job is to kill any offensive players trying to get in. If the offense successfully captures a checkpoint in time, they’ll move along the map to the next checkpoint. If the offensive team can capture three checkpoints in time, they win.

There are also two arcade game modes, which allow you to play as the same roster of heroes in a less stressful environment:

In Conquest, you and 11 other players will battle in a free-for-all deathmatch on the Ninomaru map. When enemies die, they drop Chronovium, which you can collect. The first player to collect enough Chronovium wins.In Doom Match, you and 11 other players will battle in a free-for-all deathmatch on the Sanctum Sanctorum map. You are able to double-up on heroes in this mode, meaning you can get into a duel with a group of Peni Parkers or multiple Mister Fantastics. You get points for defeating enemies, and the top 50% of players at the end of the match win.

All Marvel Rivals multiplayer maps in season 2

There are 11 main maps and two arcade maps in Marvel Rivals, all of which take place in seven different regions of the Marvel Universe (pictured in the gallery above). There are multiple maps that take place in the same region, and maps are specific to the modes that are played on them — meaning there are no maps that you play both Domination and Convoy on.

Here is the full list of core maps in season 2 of Marvel Rivals, and the modes associated with each one:

Yggdrasill Path (Yggsgard) — ConvoyRoyal Palace (Yggsgard) — DominationShin-Shibuya (Tokyo 2099) — ConvergenceSpider-Islands (Tokyo 2099) — ConvoyBirnin T’Challa (Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda) — DominationHall of Djalia (Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda) — ConvergenceSymbiotic Surface (Klyntar) — ConvergenceHell’s Heaven (Hydra Charteris Base) — DominationMidtown (Empire of Eternal Night) — Convoy (added in season 1)Central Park (Empire of Eternal Night) — Convoy (added in season 1.5)Hellfire Gala (Krakoa) — Domination (added in season 2)

There are two unique maps that are only available in specific arcade modes as of season 2:

Ninomaru (Tokyo 2099) — ConquestSanctum Sanctorum (Empire of Eternal Night) — Doom Match

All retired ranked mode maps in Marvel Rivals season 2

With season 2, NetEase games has started to retiring some maps from competitive play. Below, we’ve listed out which maps you won’t find in the competitive playlist in anymore. Note that all maps are still available in quick match and custom games.

Here are the currently retired competitive maps in Marvel Rivals season 2:

Royal Palace (Yggsgard) — Retired in season 2Shin-Shibuya (Tokyo 2099) — Retired in season 2

For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of Team-Up abilities, plus the Marvel Rivals roadmap and how crossplay works.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Blue Prince, an engrossing puzzle game about exploring a mysterious mansion that is never the same from one day to the next, is the first breakout indie game of 2025. It’s also currently the best-reviewed game of 2025 outright. You would think that would put it in contention for Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and you would probably be right, if it were November and not April. But Blue Prince’s place among the front-runners isn’t as secure as those of other games, like Split Fiction and Monster Hunter Wilds. Because at The Game Awards, all video games are equal, but some are more equal than others.

The main predictor of success in the gaming awards race is broad critical consensus, as reflected in a game’s rating on review aggregator sites Metacritic and OpenCritic. (With a 92 Metascore, Blue Prince has this sewn up.) But some genres of game, like racing or strategy, are never nominated for Game of the Year, no matter how well reviewed they are — while others, like role-playing and action-adventure, tend to dominate.

In between these sit indie games, a class of game defined not by its genre but (more or less) by the number of people it took to make it, and how much it cost to make. (How indie games are defined by The Game Awards is its own can of worms, but suffice to say that nobody will be arguing over Blue Prince’s indie credentials.) Indie games are often well represented among the best-reviewed games in any given year, but in the 11-year history of The Game Awards, only five indie games have ever been nominated for Game of the Year — and never more than one at a time. No indie game has won the coveted title yet. For indie games, the barrier for entry to gaming’s top prize is just that bit higher. And once one has been anointed, the rest often seem out of luck.

Take last year’s awards as an example. Balatro, the hugely popular card game by solo developer LocalThunk, secured a GOTY nomination as well as winning three other awards on the night. But other brilliant indie games like UFO 50 and Animal Well were passed over in the main category, despite critical reputations that were just as strong as Balatro’s and much stronger than one of the other nominees, Black Myth: Wukong.

For an indie game to be nominated for Game of the Year, high review scores and universal acclaim are even more important than for more mainstream titles. But profile is important, too. What separated Balatro from UFO 50 and Animal Well was the scale of its popularity among players and, particularly, among the critical community. It sold very well on its debut in February 2024 and got a handy bump from a well-timed mobile release in late September, just weeks before The Game Awards’ voting window. To put it simply, everyone was playing it.

The same is true, to a greater or lesser extent, of the four other indie games that have succeeded in breaking through into Game of the Year: Stray in 2022, Hades in 2020, Celeste in 2018, and Inside in 2016. All these games had a kind of virality, a moment when they dominated the gaming conversation. Cat adventure Stray’s moment was so significant that it overcame a lukewarm Metascore of 83 to secure a nomination. (It helped that Stray also has lush production values, something that the Game Awards jury is very drawn to, but that most indie games understandably lack.)

It is a little early to say, but Blue Prince certainly seems destined for such a moment. Anecdotally, I know more people in the games media community playing this game than any other release this year — even Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Blue Prince’s mysterious narrative and complex puzzles will sustain a long conversation about it, too. Like the other indie GOTY nominees, it feels very authored; you sense a strong voice behind it, in this case designer, writer, and director Tonda Ros. And while its initial Steam numbers indicate a modest hit, its ready availability on both Game Pass and the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog will help boost its profile.

There’s a big caveat, however. If another indie game comes along that is just as well reviewed and even more popular, Blue Prince’s nomination is toast, even if it’s more deserving than some of its more mainstream competition. Hades 2 is the obvious candidate. Supergiant’s sequel to its 2020 GOTY nominee has already found a huge audience in its early access version. It has the sheen and confidence of a sequel made on the back of a huge critical and commercial hit. It’s also a more approachable game than the enigmatic Blue Prince. If it leaves early access and launches in full on both PC and Nintendo Switch 2 this year, Hades 2 will surely steal Blue Prince’s nomination — if another indie sensation doesn’t come out of nowhere to do it first.

Maybe both Blue Prince and Hades 2 will appear among the final six come the end of the year, but that would be unprecedented. We should live in a world where two strikingly creative and well-executed indie games can be recognized as among the year’s best, especially considering how different these two are. We should also live in a world where one of them might actually win. But, for now, we don’t.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

All characters in Marvel Rivals fit into one of three roles: vanguards (tanks), duelists (damage), and strategists (support). While all characters can help out their allies or deal damage, these three roles help you differentiate the heroes and diversify team comps.

In addition to a new map, season 2 sees the introduction of Emma Frost (the game’s second vanguard in a row), bringing the total current roster to 38 characters. Later in season 2, NetEase Games will add Ultron (whose role hasn’t been announced yet), the 39th character.

In this Marvel Rivals guide, we’ll walk you through all characters in Marvel Rivals, broken up by role, detailing the game’s full roster. And if you’re looking for the best characters, see our Marvel Rivals tier list.

All vanguards in Marvel Rivals

There are currently 10 vanguards in Marvel Rivals — as of the start of season 2 — and we’ve listed them all below.

Emma Frost from the X-Men is the most recent addition to the vanguard lineup.

CharacterDescriptionDate addedBruce Banner (Hulk)A transforming tank who's able to leverage massive health bars and multiple lives to stay in the battle.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Captain AmericaA dueling tank who's able to go toe-to-toe with some duelists and strategists, making him an effective assassin who can also defend his allies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Doctor StrangeA shield-first tank, who's able to protect allies and carry them around the map quickly via portals.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Emma FrostA psychic tank, Emma Frost can use her powers to protect herself and allies with shields while mind controlling her enemies.Season 2, April 11, 2025GrootA wall-focused tank, able to build massive barriers that protect himself and his allies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024MagnetoA powerful tank that uses shields to block damage, which he can then redirect at his enemies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Peni ParkerA defensive tank who's able to lock down an area with mines and healing webs.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024The ThingA rock-solid tank who's immune to most crowd control and clobbers foes with his fists.Season 1.5, Feb 21, 2025ThorA high-damage tank who's able to weave his abilities together to quickly kill enemies while keeping himself alive.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024VenomA highly mobile tank who's able to dive into the enemy backline and live to get back to his team.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024

All duelists in Marvel Rivals

There are currently 20 duelists in Marvel Rivals — as of the start of season 2 — and we’ve listed them all below.

Human Torch is the most recent addition to the duelist lineup.

CharacterDescriptionDate addedBlack PantherA diving duelist able to assassinate squishy characters with ranged spear attacks and melee claws.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Black WidowA sniper character who's able to scope in and deal with squishy characters in the backline.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024HawkeyeA sniper with the capability to one-shot squishy heroes with well-placed arrows.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024HelaA long-range precision character who's able to quickly destroy foes with knives to the head and explosives from the air.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Human TorchA flamboyant duelist who flies through the air and burns enemies to a crisp with his fire attacks.Season 1.5, Feb 21, 2025Iron FistA diving assassin who's able to quickly push his way behind tanks and eliminate duelists and strategists in seconds.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Iron ManAn aerial damage dealer able to rain down explosive shots and powerful lasers on unsuspecting enemies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024MagikA melee duelist who uses portals to slide in and out of the enemy backline and assassinate squishy characters.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Mister FantasticA stretchy duelist who's able to punch from afar and become very tanky for short periods of time.Season 1, Jan. 10, 2025Moon KnightA damage dealer that specializes in area of effect attacks, and is able to ricochet boomerangs between enemies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024NamorA pet-focused duelist who's able to throw out octopuses to do his bidding and take down powerful enemies from afar.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024PsylockeA swift duelist who's able to use her ranged attacks to deal damage from afar, while also dashing into the backline.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Scarlet WitchAn up-close duelist who's able to drain the life from enemies before disintegrating them with her one-shot ultimate.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Spider-ManA mobile duelist who's able to weave in and out of the enemy team, getting quick kills before retreating to safety.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Squirrel GirlAn area-damage focused duelist, who's able to launch explosive nuts into the enemy team and rack up big damage.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Star-LordA mobile duelist who's able to fly around the battlefield dealing consistent damage with his dual pistols.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024StormA damage dealer who brings some support-like bonuses to her team and is able to fly around the battlefield at will.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024The PunisherA more traditional shooter character who's able to use his powerful arsenal of weapons to take enemies down.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Winter SoldierA high-damage character who's able to use his ultimate multiple times in a row to secure kill after kill.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024WolverineA tank-busting duelist who's able to survive for long periods of time and shred the health of bigger targets.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024

All strategists in Marvel Rivals

There are currently 8 strategists in Marvel Rivals — as of the start of season 2 — and we’ve listed them all below.

Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four is the latest strategist to join the roster, and did so at the start of season 1.

CharacterDescriptionDate addedAdam WarlockA healer that specializes in reviving himself and allies with his powerful ultimate.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Cloak & DaggerA duel support who's able to swap between a damage-dealing character and a pure healer mid-battle.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Invisible WomanAn invisible healer who's able to shield allies and push away enemies.Season 1, Jan. 10, 2025Jeff the Land SharkA healer who's able to give allies health and movement speed boosts while swallowing enemies whole.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024LokiA trickster healer who's able to dish out decent damage while being very difficult to track down.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Luna SnowA popstar healer who's able to freeze enemies, and both heal and damage boost allies with her powerful ultimate.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024MantisA support that is able to heal allies as well as boost their damage for long periods of time.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024Rocket RaccoonA gadget-focused support who can deal decent damage and has the power to resurrect allies.Launch, Dec. 6, 2024

For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of all known codes, all Team-Up abilities, all maps and modes, and a look at the game’s roadmap.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Ultra Wormholes are the primary way you encounter Ultra Beasts in Pokémon Go.

Ultra Beasts are unique extradimensional Pokémon first introduced in Pokémon Sun and Moon, and with how they work in Pokémon Go, are essentially Legendary Pokémon in all but name.

For those wanting to fill their Pokédex in Pokémon Go, you’ll want to know when an Ultra Beast is spawning — and this is where understanding how Ultra Wormholes work comes in handy. We explain how Ultra Wormholes work in Pokémon Go below.

What is an Ultra Wormhole in Pokémon Go?

Ultra Wormholes can appear in Gyms to countdown to the appearance of an Ultra Beast in a raid.

Beyond the visual appearance of an Ultra Wormhole to signify a Ultra Beast encounter will appear there — and the replacement of Premier Balls with Beast Balls and their higher catch rate as part of certain events — fighting and catching Ultra Beasts is mechanically indistinct from Legendary Pokémon or other creatures in Raid Eggs.

As such, the only purpose of Ultra Wormholes is to highlight that an Ultra Beast, and not another Pokémon, will be spawning at a Gym.

As with Raid Eggs, you won’t know exactly what Pokémon will be in the Raid until the countdown ends — though following the current raid schedule to know the possibilities can help narrow it down.

Which Ultra Beasts can appear in an Ultra Wormhole?

To date, the following Ultra Beasts have spawned at Ultra Wormholes in Pokémon Go:

NihilegoBuzzwolePheromosaXurkitreeCelesteela (regional exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere)Kartana (regional exclusive to the Northern Hemisphere)GuzzlordStakataka (regional exclusive to the Eastern Hemisphere)Blacephalon (regional exclusive to the Western Hemisphere)

As well as the above, there are two Ultra Beasts which do not spawn in Ultra Wormholes — Poipole and evolution Naganadel — which were made available by completing the (now unattainable) “World of Wonders” Special Research. There’s also Necrozma, which, while not technically an Ultra Beast, is closely related lore-wise in some Pokémon games and tie-ins, and often appears during Ultra Beast-focused events.

In terms of tracking down specific Ultra Beasts, which can appear in an Ultra Wormhole is entirely dependant on the current raid schedule.

Finally, know that though they are primarily sourced from raid, Ultra Beasts have also appeared as Special Research and Timed Research reward encounters in the past — though don’t count on them to appear there regularly.

How to get an Ultra Wormhole background

There was a chance that any Ultra Beast — as well as pseudo-Ultra Beast Necrozma — caught during Go Fest 2024 would come with a unique Ultra Wormhole background.

Like other backgrounds in Pokémon Go, this is purely a cosmetic feature to make the catch a little more unique, and to give collectors something extra to chase.

At the time of writing, this Ultra Wormhole background has yet to reappear in Pokémon Go, and as with many event-specific backgrounds, is likely to remain a Go Fest 2024 exclusive. If you’re particularly keen, Pokémon with backgrounds can be traded, if you know a friend who is willing to part ways with one.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

As perhaps the highest-profile game of 2025 so far, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been a major topic of conversation among the gaming community. It’s been out for a few weeks, so the chatter in the Slack channel that we spun up here at Polygon to discuss the game has slowed significantly (especially with some people on the team having moved on to other games that generate feverish posting, such as Blue Prince). Even so, I probably should’ve known that I wouldn’t be able to innocently drop my latest progress update into Slack without my co-workers commenting upon it, baffled anew by the strange ways in which I play video games.

“I’m ~26 hours in as of last night, and I just now unlocked Yasuke,” I wrote on Wednesday morning.

The ensuing thread ended up with 75 messages in it. The first response arrived within two minutes of my initial post, courtesy of our curation editor, Pete Volk:

a real question: how

as in, what have you spent your time doing? what does your objective board look like?

These are good and valid questions, Pete! I wish I had better answers beyond “my brain is broken” and “if you saw the way I play this game you would want to commit seppuku within 10 minutes” and “this is why I pretty much never finish open-world games.”

For the uninitiated, Yasuke is one of the two protagonists of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but aside from a snippet of the intro, you don’t get to play as him until you’ve completed the game’s first act. Now, if you’re a normal person, you’ll probably reach that point in 10-12 hours or so. Our guide about unlocking Yasuke allows that it may take some players as long as 20 hours. But longer than an entire rotation of the Earth on its axis? How in the Animus is that possible?!

Here is where I tell you that I am weird. I get easily distracted by shiny objects in games, which is a problem in open-world experiences, as they are typically designed to encourage exploration and investigation. I also love stealth games, but they’re often designed in a way that indulges the worst of my perfectionist tendencies: If you let me engage in save scumming, I will use it to the fullest extent.

Perhaps you can begin to comprehend why an Assassin’s Creed game would be a rapacious consumer of my leisure time. This is particularly true with this Assassin’s Creed game, for which I had previously typed the following progress update into Slack: “I am now something like 16 hours into AC Shadows and I still haven’t decided if I actually like the game.” I was about to start the (justifiably well-liked) quest in which Naoe participates in a tea ceremony, and the reason it had taken me that long to even get there was that I simply didn’t care much for the story up to that point — something that is only slightly less true now that I’ve unlocked Yasuke.

So far, I’ve mostly been ignoring Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ main missions in favor of exploring its version of feudal Japan, and undertaking side activities such as infiltrating castles. The game takes place circa 1579, toward the end of the Sengoku period, a time of widespread civil war during which the prototypical idea of a Japanese castle came into being. They were laid out with a multistory keep surrounded by courtyards, moats, and residential buildings. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the grounds of any castle are full of guards to contend with, along with civilians who will scramble to alert their armed compatriots if they see you.

I want you to understand, dear reader — my presumably “normal” reader — the inner workings of my very special mind. Here is an approximation of my painstaking, scatterbrained approach to infiltrating a castle as Naoe:

I find a way across the outer moat.I eliminate a guard or two, then move to a different spot that’s not far away. Rinse and repeat until all the enemies in an area are dead, so that I can collect all the loot there.Aw man, I got spotted! OK, OK, it’s fine — I took them out before they could raise the alarm. Now I have to scrounge around for some health rations, though.Hm, that building isn’t anywhere near the keep, but [engages Eagle Vision] ooh, there are two samurai and a loot chest in there? Sure, I’ll go out of my way for it!Sweet, I’ve made it inside the keep. Wait, where’s that last Samurai Daisho that I need to kill so that I can unlock the reward chest at the top level of the castle? Dammit… [goes back outside and pores over the castle grounds][20 minutes later] Now I can finally collect my reward and get to the synchronization point atop the keep! Mission accomplished!

Maybe that doesn’t sound all that unusual to you. But you should know that I’m also a compulsive saver, and because there isn’t a quicksave function even in the Windows PC version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, saving my game is a multistep process. And it’s something I do approximately once every minute, because I really hate losing any progress. As a result, a single castle might take me a whole hour to complete. Is your skin crawling yet at this madness?

I’ve now cleared out enough castles to realize that the process doesn’t change all that much from place to place, so this element of the game is starting to lose its luster for me, even though I still find that the underlying stealth experience delivers satisfying thrills. I do have hope that spending time getting to know Yasuke, now that I’ve unlocked him, will force me out of my obsession with Naoe’s stealth mechanics — since he’s simply not that kind of assassin, or indeed an assassin at all — and break my bad habits. (I don’t have the same hopes for the story to improve, since my co-workers tell me that it doesn’t get more compelling from here on out.)

But why rush? Maybe I’ll just abandon everything and take up virtual sightseeing, trying to recreate shots from my honeymoon in the game’s photo mode. Himeji Castle, here I come…

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Nintendo has spent the last few weeks providing us with a ton of information about the Switch 2, but I’m sad to say that’s old news. The tech-y, business-y types of the world are already looking ahead to the Switch 3, baby. Buckle up.

While sharing his insights on the current strength of Intel Corporation stock, KeyBanc Capital Markets senior research analyst John Vinh shared a small —and I mean brief — tidbit about Intel potentially securing a contract to work on the next Nintendo console.

“We believe [Intel] has won the GPU gaming socket for the Nintendo Switch 3 on 18A,” Vinh said, referring to the company’s much-touted 18A semiconductor manufacturing.

I won’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of this technology, but Intel put out a short video in January describing the benefits for luddites like me. According to Intel Story Lab director Krista Vasquez, the Intel 18A chipmaking process combines innovative transistors with industry-first architecture to provide “jumps in performance, density, and power efficiency” while “paving the way for continued, future advances.” Sounds impressive, but buzzwords tend to have that effect.

Just when it feels like we got off one speculative rollercoaster, we’ve been ushered into the next one faster than we could say, “Donkey Kong wears pants now.” Let’s all hold hands and trudge silently into the underground bunkers before we’re assaulted by eye-straining YouTube thumbnails and Reddit posts arguing about the latest half-sentence tease from gaming’s cottage industry of “insiders” and rumormongers.

Oh, and if you still care, the Switch 2 launches June 5.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

The Boiler Room provides power to certain rooms around the estate in Blue Prince.

The Boiler Room will send steam power through the steam ducts on the ceiling to any connecting room, as long as they also have steam ducts. However, you’ll need to figure out how to activate the steam power first, which will require you to turn a lot of valves and pipes. Solving the puzzle can be very tedious, but once solved, you’ll unlock a lot of useful mechanics.

Here’s how to activate the Boiler Room in Blue Prince.

How to activate the Boiler Room in Blue Prince

Before activating the steam power in the Boiler Room, you should know what you’re working with:

Three green steam tanks — There are two green tanks on the lower floor and one green tank on the upper floor. Each tank has a valve that turns it on and releases steam through its connecting pipes.Rotatable red pipes — On the lower floor, there are two rotatable red pipes that can redirect the steam in different directions.Small blue hand levers — There are two small blue hand levers that can control the direction the steam is flowing. One can be found on the lower floor, while the other can be found beside the tank on the upper floor.Control panel — On the upper floor, you’ll find a control panel in the center of the room. This control panel will allow you to activate the steam power in the Boiler Room and redirect the steam through the ducts.

How to activate each green tank

First things first, you’ll need to activate all three green tanks in the Boiler Room. Activate the first green tank at the bottom of the stairs by rotating its valve, which will release steam through its connecting pipe.

Next, rotate the red pipes so that the steam is directed towards the second tank on the lower floor. This will activate the vertical conveyor belt that was blocking the second tank’s valve, but, to turn the valve, you’ll need to stop the conveyor belt from moving at just the right time. We recommend turning the first green tank on and off until you can turn the second tank’s valve.

With the second tank activated, turn the blue hand lever, which can be found on its connecting pipe, to the right, and follow the pipe to the rotatable red pipe. Turn the red pipe so it’s pointed towards the elevator in the corner, activate its buttons. Get on the elevator and ride it to the top to find the next green tank.

Turn the valve on the green tank and redirect the small blue hand lever on its connecting pipe towards the left. At the end of the walkway, turn the lever to the left to lift and unlock the barred door. Next, ride the elevator back down to the lower floor to redirect steam to the control panel.

To redirect steam to the control panel, you’ll need to rotate the red pipes and small blue hand lever so that steam is directed from the tanks to the center of the room. Once the steam has been rerouted, walk up the stairs and along the pathways to the control panel.

Press the activate button to turn on the control panel and send steam power through its ducts. Below the control panel, you’ll find a slider that can be shifted to the left and right. This will shift the steam power to the left and right ducts respectively — meaning power will only be sent to rooms in said direction.

How to connect power from the Boiler Room in Blue Prince

To connect power from the Boiler Room to other rooms in Blue Prince, you’ll need to activate the control panel in the center of the upper floor, and shift the power towards one of the doorways. Then, you’ll need to draft a connecting room that has needs power:

LaboratoryGaragePump RoomLaundry Room

However, as drafting is random, luck is not always in your favor. Instead, you might need to draft a room that has ducts:

Boiler RoomSecurity RoomLaboratoryPump RoomLocker RoomPassagewayArchivesDarkroom

Power will go through the ducts in these rooms — giving you another chance to draft one of the rooms that needs power. Once a powered-connection has been made, the ducts will glow blue.

For more Blue Prince guides, here’s how to use the Pump Room, how to use the Secret Garden Key, how to tell the date and time, and a list of all safe codes. Or see our full walkthrough on how to find Room 46.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

Thereare four blue braziers outside of the house in Blue Prince. To find them, you’ll have to head outside onto the Grounds. Once they’re lit, it unlocks a permanent (it doesn’t reset) path to the Basement, but you’ll have to do a lot of work first.

Our Blue Prince guide will show you how to light all four braziers and tell you which rooms you’ll find the necessary gasline valves in to do so.

Where to find the braziers in Blue Prince

From the Entrance Hall, head outside to the Grounds. Go to the left of the Fountain and down the stairs. You’ll find all four braziers at the bottom of the steps.

All brazier rooms in Blue Prince

Lighting the braziers is as simple as turning a gasline valve. That will send gas to the brazier and it will light automatically. The trick to the puzzle is just finding the valves.

You’ll find them in the following rooms (in no particular order):

**The Orchard**The Gemstone CavernThe HovelThe Schoolhouse

How to light the Orchard brazier in Blue Prince

Once you get the code from the Darkroom and unlock the Orchard gate, the gasline valve is on your left as you walk in.

How to light the Gemstone Cavern brazier in Blue Prince

Once you have access to the Gemstone Cavern via the Utility Closet, you’ll find the gasline valve just inside and to the right.

How to light the Outer Room braziers in Blue Prince

The remaining two gasline valves are in special rooms that can only be built outside. And to do that, you’ll need to go through the Garage and open the West Gate (and West Path).

Now you just have to draft rooms at that Outer Room door. The rooms you’re looking for are the Hovel and the Schoolhouse. You’ll only be able to draft one Outer Room per day, so it might take several tries to get both of them.

In Mr. Revane’s Hovel, the gasline valve is to the right of the fireplace (stove?). In the Schoolhouse, it’s on the back side of the heater in the middle of the room.

What does lighting all four braziers do in Blue Prince?

Now that they’re all lit, an elevator will appear on the landing where the braziers are. That elevator will take you to the Basement (which is only really useful if you have the Basement Key).

For more Blue Prince guides, check out our full walkthrough on how to reach Room 46, learn how to solve the darts puzzle, how to find the terminal password, where to find the Secret Garden Key, or read how to open the Garage door and West Gate.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

While everyone is excited about the launch of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, the latest expansion for Magic: The Gathering, Best Buy is discounting a collection of Bundles and Booster Packs from Foundations and Aetherdrift for Friday, April 11 only if you’re looking to get a little extra value out of your Magic investment.

The highlight of this sale is definitely the Magic: The Gathering Foundations Bundle. Typically $49.99, this starter kit is currently discounted to just $42.49, and is a great way to jump into the Foundations expansion with a collection of nine play boosters, a traditional foil alt-art card, 40 land cards (half of which are foiled), a spindown life counter, and a storage box. Two-packs of Foundations Jumpstart Boosters are also on sale for $7.49 (was $10.49). These packs each contain 20 cards, including a guaranteed rare or Mythic Rare card.

Aetherdrift, the most recent MTG expansion prior to the launch of Dragonstorm, also has a discounted Bundle available. On sale for $50.37 (was $53.99) this box contains nine Play Booster packs, 40 Land cards (with 20 foils), a single traditional foil alt-art card, a spindown life counter, and a storage box.

Preconstructed Commander Decks for Aetherdrift and the Fallout Universes Beyond set are also on sale. But, if you’ve run out of room for more Magic cards, don’t worry, Best Buy has also discounted a collection of Ultra Pro playmats if you need a clean playing surface. Each of the five available playmats are discounted to $16.49 (was $24.99), and sport the logo for your favorite mana color.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

After taking the world of genre cinema by storm with 2022’s cult hit Saloum, director Jean Luc Herbulot is back with another fascinating genre experiment filled with surprising twists and turns and a radical political message. His new movie Zero, out in theaters and available on VOD this week, is one of 2025’s most explosive new movies — and not just because its premise involves quite a few bomb vests. Part Crank, part Phone Booth, part odd-couple buddy comedy, part unusually relevant action movie, it’s a memorable and stylish new entry for one of the most exciting up-and-coming filmmakers working today. And though it was filmed more than two years ago, it keeps getting more prescient with each passing month — to its filmmakers’ simultaneous delight and dismay.

In Zero, two American men wake up in Dakar, Senegal, with bomb vests strapped to their chests, a timer ticking down, and a strange man (Willem Dafoe) speaking to them via earbuds. If they complete five simple tasks, he claims, he’ll set them both free. The truth is far more complicated.

This setup allows Herbulot and co-writer, producer, and star Hus Miller to explore weighty issues like the USA’s outsized influence on the Global South, individual Americans’ complicity in the violence that results from that influence, the media’s relationship to terrorism, and how to compel mass action from oppressed groups around the world. In a director’s statement provided to the press, Herbulot says he “wanted to bind geopolitics and emotions in a surreal world,” exploring how “two seemingly innocent people can become enemy number one, reversing the propaganda that is often used in Western politics.”

For better or worse, Zero’s political material is even more relevant today than when it was shot in 2022 and 2023. “There were so many things that happened [in real life] that we did in the movie,” Miller told Polygon in a video interview. “Even when we were looking for footage, a year later we had the footage, because it was actually happening.”

“It was in the streets!” Herbulot exclaimed in the same interview, referencing movements in West Africa to separate countries from France’s influence. “That’s when you know that you’re touching a universal subject.”

I watched Zero days before the announcement of Trump’s worldwide tariffs, and in the midst of the American government’s continued support of a genocide in Gaza, which is certainly using some of my tax dollars, and is supposedly on behalf of Jews like myself. That all made Zero’s story hit harder for me — it’s explicitly about America’s influence on the rest of the world, and how even unwilling Americans can contribute to global destruction.

“That was an important part of the initial concept of Zero in the first place, and that’s why we did it in Africa,” Miller said. “Something that we haven’t really talked about much is having this inverse of [fictional portrayals of] terrorism. [In the movie,] you’re seeing Americans do this, right? But they’re doing it unwillingly, and being used as pawns to do it.”

Herbulot was born in Congo-Brazzaville, has lived in many different countries, and survived a civil war. For him, infusing political elements through a genre framework wasn’t “strategic,” he said. It just came naturally.

“The subject started to call for that, and the voice [Dafoe’s character] started to call for that,” Herbulot said. “The political stuff came as a tool to understand why the voice is doing it, how the voice is doing it, and who is the voice, without telling you who it is. When we did the movie, there was no [generative] AI yet, but I knew there was going to be a technology where you can do whatever you want with your voice. So the idea for us was, we are never going to identify this person, because it can be a kid somewhere, or a person trying to just fuck with everybody else, or it can be the CIA. Who knows, right? We don’t need to answer that question, but what we want you to think about is that it’s omnipotent, it’s omnipresent, and it’s everywhere in the world.

“It’s about how this movie can last in the next five years, in the next 10 years. Hopefully, when you watch it back, you’re like, Oh, it’s still actuality, it’s still happening. So that was my main goal as a storyteller. I want to make something that puts an inception in your head and stays there for a long time.”

As with Saloum, the weighty and overtly political themes are contained within a stylish, thrilling genre package that clocks in under 90 minutes and wastes no time getting into the heart of the story. The genre combination is appealing: The thrills of action, the tension of horror, and the release of comedy (an unplanned addition to the mix that happened while they were shooting, Herbulot says) will be instantly recognizable to fans of Saloum and Herbulot’s work.

“It’s not easy for the marketing team to work on my movies, because they’re like, ‘Is it an action movie? Is it a comedy? Is it a political thriller?’ And I’m like, ‘Whatever,’” Herbulot said. “I don’t give a shit about genre. I just try to follow the characters and the story.”

A lot of the movie’s comedy comes from the clash between the two American characters. #1 (played by Miller — the characters don’t get names) is from Wall Street, and is talkative, desperate, and skittish, questioning everything about the ridiculous, dangerous situation he’s in. #2 (Cam McHarg) is a violent man of action, not words, and seems remarkably calm and collected, despite the bomb strapped to him. Along the way, we are introduced to many, many characters with their own on-screen ticking timers counting down to their deaths, from mere minutes to more than a year.

Dafoe, meanwhile, is pure mischief as the voice, a mix of Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth (a direct reference the filmmakers were pulling from) and Jigsaw in the Saw series (a subconscious reference that surprised and thrilled the filmmakers when I brought it up). They never thought they’d land the four-time Oscar nominee for the role. But after they reached out to him, he watched Saloum, loved it, and signed on.

Herbulot deploys uptempo editing in Zero to keep things moving at a brisk pace, maintaining surprise and humor around nearly every corner. The evocative costumes (especially the ones used to cover the bomb vests — one is a fur coat, in spite of the sweltering Dakar heat), the focus on expressive faces and minute details, and the playful stylistic choices (like a diorama effect using tilt-shift photography to create an impersonal “eye of god” perspective for Dafoe’s character) keep things captivating visually. And as with Saloum, the score is energetic and vibrant.

My favorite of these moments is the first time a bomb explodes in Zero. Rather than focusing on the frankly not-all-that-impressive explosion VFX you would expect from a movie working with a modest budget, Herbulot instead directs the camera to the process and the fallout: gears turning in a watch, people flying through the air in slow motion (filmed like the view from the bottom of a trampoline), sand rippling.

It’s economical and thrifty filmmaking, but also makes for a striking, distinctive visual approach. When the PR team working with Zero offered Polygon an exclusive clip of the movie for this story, I immediately thought of this moment, because it’s a great encapsulation of Herbulot’s stylistic approach and willingness to zig where others might zag.

Without spoiling things, Zero culminates in a startlingly bold ending. It openly explores what it would take to actually build a better world, and unlike other action movies with political material, it doesn’t flinch in the face of tough questions. Even if it does stumble at some points along the way (Saloum is a slightly more polished project), it’s another promising entry from a fascinating artist whose ambition is only outmatched by his stylistic flair and admirably economical pacing.

Zero itself seems poised to grow as well, as a changing world order continues to unfurl itself. “I’m glad [increased relevance of the subject matter] is happening in some ways, for the movie,” Miller said. “But for the world, I’m a little skeptical.”

“I am really proud that the movie is going out in theaters in the U.S., because it was never meant to be an anti-American movie,” Herbulot said. “It was meant to be an anti-domination movie. It’s more about the mechanism of power in place, and we hope it’s going to stay in people’s heads.”

Zero is now playing in theaters, and is available for digital rental or purchase on VOD platforms. Saloum is streaming on Shudder, AMC Plus, and for free with ads on Hoopla, and is also available for digital rental or purchase on VOD platforms.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

The hook of Exquisite Corpses — a huge new collaboration from 10 heavy-hitting horror comics creators — is that the citizens of Oak Valley, Maine, must band together when the richest families in America drop 12 of “the deadliest people in the world” into their town for a one-night-only, last-man-standing free-for-all to the death.

But while the comic series follows those innocent citizens, Exquisite Corpses: The Game, developed by artist Michael Walsh (The Silver Coin, two dozen Magic: The Gathering card illustrations), puts players in the shoes of their favorite killer from the series, in “a mix between competitive trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and casual party games like Ultimate Werewolf,” according to a news release from Tiny Onion Studios.

Exquisite Corpses: The Game won’t launch until Exquisite Corpses has finished its first 13-issue season — that is, no earlier than the back half of 2026. But, Polygon can exclusively reveal, interested readers and players can start getting their hands on the game’s cards this May, when some variant copies of Exquisite Corpses #1 will come with a random card.

The comic itself is the brainchild of Walsh and writer James Tynion IV (Batman, Something Is Killing the Children), who envisioned it as a way to bring the collaborative writers room of a Marvel or DC Comics crossover to bear on an original horror concept. Walsh and Tynion developed the “bible” of the series, then invited fellow comics creators Valentine De Landro (Bitch Planet), Becca Carey (Absolute Wonder Woman), Adam Gorham (Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant), Gavin Fullerton (Bog Bodies), Jordie Bellaire (Birds of Prey), Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian), Tyler Boss (The Department of Truth), Che Grayson (Batman: Urban Legends), Claire Roe (Dark Spaces: The Hollywood Special), and Marianna Ignazzi (Catwoman) to nail down the story and craft its 13 issues.

As the official summary of Exquisite Corpses #1 puts it:

Every five years on Halloween, the wealthiest families in America play a game. Twelve of the deadliest people in the world are dropped into a small town with just one goal: last killer standing wins. For the citizens of Oak Valley, Maine — this year’s unlucky arena — the goal is much simpler. They must survive the night.

Exquisite Corpses: The Game began with Walsh drawing out the comic’s collection of serial killers and assassins onto dry-erase cards right in the first development meetings — work that turned into a card game the whole team would play when they got together.

“Gameplay has been right at the center of the development of this project from my first conversation with Walsh,” Tynion told Polygon via email. “At the heart of the story concept is a brutal, bloody game that these wealthy families play, pitting these dangerous killers against each other. We knew that we wanted to give our readers a way to play along, and thankfully Michael’s experience and affinity for the tabletop game world meant that his brain was cooking from go on how to build this. We didn’t have to go out and hunt down a team to help us design this game — we built it together, right alongside the comic book.”

“Exquisite Corpses: The Game is an easy-to-learn social strategy card game,” Walsh told Polygon via email. “You get to play as your favorite killer, make alliances… and then break them, as you rack up your kill count using the unique skills of your chosen killer. I wanted readers to experience the story of Exquisite Corpses in a brand new way, where they decide who lives, who dies, and who wins.” Walsh has been playtesting the game with a dedicated group since 2024, according to Tiny Onion’s news release, and wants the game to be an easy thing to pick up and play at a party, but “hard to put down.”

Exquisite Corpses the comic kicks off on May 14 with the first 60-page issue of its first season. Exquisite Corpses: The Game, however, is currently set to be released “after the first season of the comic series finishes,” according to Tiny Onion’s news release. But there’s still a way to get its planned 12 killer cards: For $2 more, fans can grab the polybagged Cover C variant of the issue, which will include one random killer card.

“If readers are picking up the Cover C variants,” Tynion said in the news release, “they will be able to start playing a streamlined version of the game as the series releases.”

You can check out two of those killer cards — along with Michael Walsh’s Cover C variant cover art — below, of the Fox Mask Killer and Leopold Strong.

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From Polygon via this RSS feed

What’s the best movie I can watch on Netflix? We’ve all asked ourselves this question, only to spend the next 15 minutes scrolling through the streaming service’s oddly specific genre menus and getting overwhelmed by the constantly shifting trend menus. Netflix’s huge catalog of movies continues to expand day by day, week by week, month by month. This makes keeping up to date with best the service has to offer — let alone finding something to watch after a long day — a task that feels herculean at best and impossible at worst for someone not plugged into its inscrutable rhythms.

We’re here to help. For those suffering from choice paralysis, we’ve narrowed down your options to not only our favorite current movies on the platform, but the best movies Netflix has to offer.

If you’re looking for a specific genre, we’ve got the best action movies on Netflix, the best horror movies on Netflix, the best thrillers on Netflix, the best sci-fi movies on Netflix, and the best comedy movies on Netflix ready for you.

We’ll be updating this list as Netflix cycles movies in and out of its library, so be sure to check back next time you’re stuck in front of the app’s home screen.

How we pick the best movies on Netflix

Polygon’s staff consistently keeps up with new Netflix originals and titles added to the streaming platform, adding to this list with the best movies across both Netflix productions and library titles. We prioritize quality, unique artistic vision, and variety — different genres, different eras, different vibes, different filmmaking nations — to make sure every reader finds multiple options that interest them, as well as movies they may have never encountered before.

Athena

Director: Romain GavrasCast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon

One of the very best movies of 2022, Athenais an intense action thriller about the uprising of a French banlieue after repeated police harassment and violence. Told through the eyes of three brothers with very different perspectives on the conflict and how it should be resolved, Athena is a powerful story. But where it really shines is in its technical acumen. Music video director Romain Gavras, making his feature debut, brings breathtaking tracking shots, intricately choreographed blocking, and an absolutely electric energy. I have qualms with the ending, but I’ll never forget the jaw-dropping experience of watching Gavras cook on this movie. Whatever he does next, I’m there. —Pete Volk

Atlantics

Director: Mati DiopCast: Ibrahima Traoré, Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow

It’s hard to talk too much about Atlantics without giving away what makes the experience of watching it so special. It’s a beautiful, haunting love story with a tangibly beating heart, touching on romance as well as grief, class, labor, and the lingering effects of oppression. Shot gorgeously by director Mati Diop and cinematographer Claire Mathon, it was the first movie directed by a Black woman to be featured in competition in Cannes (it won the Grand Prix award, losing out on the Palme d’Or to Parasite), and is one of the most remarkable feature film debuts for a director in recent memory. —PV

Carol

Director: Todd HaynesCast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson

Todd Haynes’ most recent movie was the straight-to-Netflix gem May December, one of the best releases of 2023 and another movie on this very list. But this month, one of Haynes’ other masterpieces returns to Netflix after being away from the service for most of the year.

Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, Carol follows an affair between two women at very different points in their lives. Therese (Rooney Mara) is an aspiring photographer who works at a department store, where she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), a gorgeous older woman going through a difficult divorce. The two fall deeply in love in this lushly drawn, beautifully shot period romance that earned six Oscar nominations and kickstarted a stretch for Haynes of releasing a new movie every other year since. Haynes is an essential part of the New Queer Cinema movement, and Carol is an essential piece of 21st-century queer filmmaking. During this Pride month, or any other, don’t miss it. —PV

Do the Right Thing

Director: Spike LeeCast: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro

Taking place over the course of a swelteringly hot day in Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing follows a rotating cast of characters as it traces the fault lines of racial tension between the neighborhood’s African-American locals and the Italian-American owner of a local pizzeria. From the film’s iconic shadowboxing opening featuring Rosie Perez, the beautiful and intimate cinematography of frequent Lee collaborator Ernest Dickerson, to its explosive and heart-wrenching finale, Do The Right Thing is unquestionably not only one of the greatest films the director has ever produced, but one of the most essential entries in the canon of American cinema. —Toussaint Egan

Emily the Criminal

Director: John Patton FordCast: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Gina Gershon

One of the smartest movies about the gig economy and our modern money struggles, Emily the Criminal was criminally (ayyy) underappreciated when it came out in 2022. The movie follows a debt-ridden woman (Aubrey Plaza) who gets involved in a credit card scam to pay off her student loans. This pulls her in the orbit of charismatic ringleader Youcef (the reliably handsome Theo Rossi), and also deeper and deeper into the world of crime, as she looks for a way out of her difficult situation.

It’s a career-best performance from Plaza, who is as funny and dry as ever, but Emily the Criminal’s script allows her to use her dramatic chops in ways we’ve rarely seen outside of White Lotus and Ingrid Goes West (and even those are primarily comedies with dramatic elements). Relentlessly paced, constantly tense, and always centered on the terrific leading performance at its core, Emily the Criminal is one of the best American films of the decade, and its potency will only grow as the problems it shines a light on continue to be exacerbated. —PV

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Director: George MillerCast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke

In 2015, George Miller released Mad Max: Fury Road, a post-apocalyptic tour de force that rocketed to the heights of the box office and reasserted Miller’s status as an action auteur of the highest caliber. Nearly a decade later, Miller released Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, to a comparably tepid and muted response. In spite of this, I believe time will be kind to Miller’s follow-up, which deftly builds upon the framework of the previous film to weave together an origin myth worthy of its titular protagonist.

The film is not only an explosive spectacle, but a lesson in the futility of revenge for revenge’s sake, the redemptive power of love, and the indomitable will to survive in a world rife with senseless cruelty and barbarism. I think that’s a sentiment worthy of holding on to, now more than ever, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga communicates that in spectacular fashion. —TE

Ghosts of Sugar Land

Director: Bassam Tariq

Director Bassam Tariq recently got replaced on Marvel’s upcoming Blade movie, and it’s as good a reason as any to catch up with his masterful 2019 short. Best known for the hip-hop drama Mogul Mowgli starring Riz Ahmed, Tariq’s previous movie is an enthralling documentary well worth the 21-minute running time.

Ghosts of Sugar Land is about a young group of friends in the suburbs of Texas, and what happens when one of them becomes radicalized by ISIS. A compelling portrait of an America we don’t often get to see depicted on screen, Tariq offers no easy answers, instead leaning on the shock and despair of the friends left behind, and on the dangers of isolation and loneliness in a country that often seems on the brink of collapse. A winner of multiple festival awards, including the 2019 Sundance Short Film Jury Award, Ghosts of Sugar Land is not to be missed. —PV

Godzilla Minus One

**Director:Takashi YamazakiCast:**Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka

This month, one of 2023’s best movies is finally available to stream for Western audiences. Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One takes the franchise back to its roots: the disillusionment of Japan’s postwar era. The King of the Monsters is once again a metaphor for atomic weapons, but where Minus One really makes its mark is with the human characters who strive again annihilation.

Ryunosuke Kamiki plays Kōichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot buried under a mountain of survivor’s guilt, with Minami Hamabe as Noriko, the woman he can’t bring himself to marry. Rounding out the cast are more adventure staples, like the trio of loyal and comedic co-workers, including the older scientist who has the right plan to defeat the monster (Hidetaka Yoshioka). The key to Godzilla Minus One isn’t that the ingredients are unusual, but in Yamazaki’s presentation and execution of this full-throated anti-war, pro-hope, anti-military, throwing-shade-on-America war blockbuster.

Minus One accomplishes the rare feat of making the human drama of a Godzilla movie as compelling as the monster action — and the monster action is really, really good. Godzilla Minus One was the best time many Polygon staffers had in a movie theater in 2023, and now we can finally watch it at home. —Susana Polo

Grave of the Fireflies

Director: Isao TakahataCast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara

Grave of the Fireflies is unlike any other film Studio Ghibli has produced to date. It is a war story, though not in the fantastical sense like Howl’s Moving Castle or The Boy and the Heron: It’s a tragedy about a pair of siblings who labor under the devastation brought about by the conclusion of the Pacific War, and who are faced with the absolute worst that humanity has to offer yet still manage to eke out a few precious, albeit fleeting, moments of happiness and love. It is, without question, one of the most affecting, bittersweet, and beautiful anti-war dramas ever produced, and a bona fide gem in a filmography studded with treasures.

Isao Takahata’s body of work may not be as highly lauded as that of Hayao Miyazaki’s, but his animation is not any less impactful, poignant, or transcendently moving. Grave of the Fireflies is not a film for the faint of heart. It is, however, a movie that I maintain every serious appreciator of the medium of animation, let alone anime, should see at least once in their life, if only for the fact that neither your life nor your understanding of animation will ever be the same after having watched it. —TE

Heat

Director: Michael MannCast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer

Michael Mann’s 1995 crime-thriller stars Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna, an eccentric and hyper-competent police detective caught in a tense cat-and-mouse struggle, and Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, a career criminal. It’s a film made of moments and set-pieces that could comprise an entire third-act finale in a lesser movie. Here, they exist in a triumphant assemblage of carefully interlocking components; working in concert with the precision of a Swiss timepiece.

Pacino and De Niro deliver two of their greatest performances as a pair of obsessive workaholics whose razor sharp proficiency at their trades comes at the cost of all they otherwise love or hold dear. Dante Spinotti’s cinematography transforms the vast cityscape of Los Angeles into a shimmering expanse of lights strobing across the surface a sea of pitch darkness, a den of moral inequity from which no soul emerges wholly clean or unscathed. —TE

Hit Man

Director: Richard LinklaterCast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio

Richard Linklater returns with this Netflix Original that is at once one of his most straightforwardly enjoyable and commercial films since School of Rock, and one of his slipperiest. Adapted by Linklater and star Glen Powell from a magazine article about a Texan professor who moonlit for the police as a fake contract killer in a quasi-entrapment scheme, Hit Man takes this unbelievable truth and spins it into a shaggy-dog story that’s at once romantic, hilarious, broad, philosophical, and quietly dark. The film’s as elusive as its shape-shifting subject and will leave you with plenty to think about — but not before you’ve laughed, clapped, and marveled at a showstopping rom-com climax that puts Powell and costar Adria Arjona right at the peak of the genre. —Oli Welsh

Jigarthanda DoubleX

Director: Karthik SubbarajCast: Raghava Lawrence, S.J. Suryah, Nimisha Sajayan

Movies about the Power of Cinema™ can be self-important, saccharine, and worst of all, boring. Jigarthanda DoubleX is none of those things. A sprawling tale of gangsters, movie stars, politicians, and the people caught between them, it’s one of my favorite movies of 2023, and a truly special film.

It’s the 1970s, and a coward who believes it’s his destiny to become a cop gets framed for a quadruple murder. He gets released from prison by a corrupt movie star/politician on the condition that he kills one of the lieutenants of that movie star/politician’s rival. Naturally, our coward poses as a movie director, because his target (a notorious gangster who loves Clint Eastwood) has made it his new mission in life to be the first dark-skinned movie star in India. While making their silly movie (a biopic of the gangster, of course), they fall in love with the magic of cinema and its transformative power on a personal and societal level.

Jigarthanda DoubleX is firing on all cylinders throughout its nearly three-hour run time, with superb direction, complex characters fully embodied by terrific actors, thrilling action sequences, and a surprising amount of emotional depth for a movie with this outlandish of a premise. Don’t miss it. —PV

The Killer

Director: David FincherCast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Sala Baker

The Killer is too good to fit into any specific boxes. David Fincher’s latest movie, once again a Netflix-only release like Mank, feels distinctly post-genre. Sure, technically it’s a thriller about an assassin who botches a hit and has to deal with the consequences, which include a price on his head too. But it’s so much more than, like a comedy about one bad day of work, or a tragedy about a guy who loves The Smiths too much. Fincher’s real flex in The Killer is to present all of these seemingly competing genres and styles as one consistent tone where no moment ever feels out of step with another, whether it’s jokes about McDonald’s or bone-crunching fights.

Aside from Fincher’s technical skills, the other thing that makes The Killer’s dexterity possible is Michael Fassbender’s terrific performance as the assassin at the movie’s center. Fassbender goes from a winding monologues about the requirements of precision in every aspects of one’s life, to lamenting his latest fuck up in a moment’s notice without ever losing his put-on bravado. And it’s hilarious every single time.

This constant snapping between self-serious thriller and parody keeps every second of the movie fresh and makes it one of the best that Netflix has to offer. —AG

The Man from UNCLE

Director: Guy RitchieCast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander

Director Guy Ritchie is experiencing a bit of a renaissance thanks to his Netflix series The Gentlemen, which premiered on the platform in 2024. The Gentlemen is a perfect showcase for Ritchie’s talent for writing fast-talking British criminals, but it’s another movie on Netflix that might be his high-water mark for purely fun filmmaking: The Man from UNCLE.

Loosely adapted from the television series of the same name, the movie follows two competing spies, one an American (Henry Cavill) and the other from Russia (played by Armie Hammer), facing off in a clandestine mission in the midst of the Cold War. Of course, as with any great espionage movie, especially an action comedy like this one, there are plenty of wild ruses and ridiculous twists along the way.

While certain metatextual elements of the film (namely Armie Hammer’s involvement) have aged somewhat poorly, the movie remains a tremendously fun time, with some of Ritchie’s funniest writing ever bolstered by Cavill and an incredible supporting cast that includes Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant. On top of all that, The Man from UNCLE also makes a pretty excellent pairing with Apple TV Plus’ Slow Horses, if you want a double dose of spying. —AG

May December

Director: Todd HaynesCast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton

The Oscars are this weekend (or, at least, they are when I’m writing this), so I thought it would be fitting to recommend one of the bigger Oscar snubs of the year. Yes, May December got nominated for its (great) screenplay, but it is also one of the best films of 2023 and features three of the most outstanding performances of the year, none of which had room in a stacked nominations list.

The latest film from New Queer Cinema icon Todd Haynes (Carol, Safe) sees the legendary director reunite with frequent collaborator Julianne Moore for one of their most intriguing projects yet. May December follows an actor, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), who travels to Georgia to prepare for a role based on Gracie (Julianne Moore), a woman who became a focus of national attention after sleeping with (and eventually marrying) Joe, a 13-year-old boy when their relationship first started.

It’s an uncomfortable setting, and Haynes leans into that discomfort, both through the patience of his camera and the excellence of his lead actors. As Gracie and Elizabeth attempt to suss each other out, their identities fluctuating and blending with each other (Haynes has been very vocal about the influence of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona on this film), caught in the middle is Joe. Melton’s performance is haunting, a boy in a man’s body still caught in his teen years, closer in age to his children than to his wife. It’s the kind of adult drama we don’t get enough of anymore, and I’m glad Haynes is still here to make these kind of movies. —PV

My Oni Girl

Director: Tomotaka ShibayamaCast: Kenshô Ono, Miyu Tomita, Shintarô Asanuma

The latest anime movie from the director of the charming 2020 film A Whisker Away(also on Netflix) starts in a place that’s going to seem mighty familiar to longtime anime viewers: A shy, uptight boy has his world upended by a loud, cheerfully demanding girl, and adventures ensue. But My Oni Girl writer-director Tomotaka Shibayama and co-writer Yûko Kakihara (Trapezium,Apothecary Diaries, the 2020s Urusei Yatsura) subvert the usual script pretty quickly, making it a sweet, rewarding surprise.

The film has some fairly fuzzy story logic that may keep viewers guessing or discussing: What the heck is an oni in this movie, anyway? When a girl with purple-pink hair and a single delicate horn drops into the life of Hiiragi Yatsuse, a quiet boy whose schoolmates frequently take advantage of his polite eagerness to please, they end up on an episodic cross-country road trip together to look for her mother.

Along the way, Hiiragi finds out that his tendency to repress and hide his emotions is turning him into an oni, too — though in this world, oni just seem to be people with horns, and there’s no sign that any of the rest of them repress their emotions. The oni girl, Tsumugi, is certainly unrepressed — and a role model for Hiiragi in many ways.

My Oni Girl owes a clear debt to Studio Ghibli — not just in the extended shout-out to Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away(which Shibayama worked on as a digital ink-and-paint artist), but in the character dynamics, and some of the spookier supernatural imagery. As Hiiragi supports, saves, and grows fond of his upbeat new friend, they both become targets for creatures they don’t understand, and unraveling what’s going on and what they need to do about turns what starts as a small domestic film into a big, winning adventure. —Tasha Robinson

The Night Comes for Us

Director: Timo TjahjantoCast: Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle

The Night Comes for Us just fucking whips, OK? Why waste time on subtlety and preamble; the film certainly doesn’t! Indonesian action thrillers have been enjoying a renaissance period ever since Gareth Evans’ 2011 film The Raid kicked the door down and mollywhopped everything else in sight. Timo Tjahjanto’s 2018 film certainly follows in the footsteps of Evans’ own, with The Raid star Joe Taslim starring here as Ito, a gangland enforcer who betrays his Triad crime family by sparing the life of a child and attempting to flee the country.

Fellow The Raid star Iko Uwais shows up here as Arian, Ito’s childhood friend and fellow enforcer, who is tasked with hunting down Ito and recovering the girl. The action comes fast and frenzied here, with kinetic choreography and dazzling handheld cinematography that makes every punch, fall, and stab count. If you need to get your adrenaline pumping, throw this one on. —TE

Parasite

Director: Bong Joon HoCast: Song Kang-ho, Choi Woo-shik, Cho Yeo-jeong

Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite is a many-featured organism as terrifying as it is darkly hilarious. Song Kang-ho (Memories of Murder) stars as Kim Ki-taek, the patriarch of an impoverished family just barely making a living out of the basement apartment they live in. When his son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) gets a job as an English tutor for a wealthy family living in an extravagant modern home, the two families slowly yet surely intertwine in a symbiotic spiral of greed, exploitation, and class before exploding into a shockingly unpredictable finale. Trenchant social commentary combined with a breadth of memorable performances culminate in a remarkable film that’s more than the sum of its parts. —TE

Psychokinesis

Director: Yeon Sang-hoCast: Ryu Seung-ryong, Jung Yu-mi, Park Jeong-min

From Korean animator Yeon Sang-ho — best known for his jump to live action, 2016’s zombie knockout Train to Busan (also on Netflix) — Psychokinesis follows Shin, a bumbling, borderline-alcoholic security guard who drinks from a mountain spring recently infected by a meteorite and gains telekinetic powers. Ryu Seung-ryong is a joy as the oaf, who’s learning to control his abilities just as his estranged daughter re-enters his life and sucks him into a real-estate-driven class war. Psychokinesis plays Shin’s “fighting style” for laughs, and while it’s not as cartoonish as Chinese director Stephen Chow’s genre hybrids, the movie can make the flying object mayhem both cheeky and thrilling. The political edge gives weight to Shin’s superpowered decisions, but Sang-ho never loses sight of why everyone showed up: to push the psychic conceit to bigger and bigger heights. —Matt Patches

Space Sweepers

Director: Jo Sung-heeCast: Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu

Set in the year 2092, Jo Sung-hee’s Space Sweepers follows the crew of freelance garbagemen in space who discover a strange childlike robot named Dorothy containing a nuclear device. Hoping to ransom Dorothy in exchange for enough money to escape their poverty-stricken lives, their plan quickly escalates into a chase to stay one step ahead of the military force of a corrupt corporation. Though it’s far from the most original of sci-fi premises, Space Sweepers is still a visually impressive film with great action and a likable cast of dysfunctional characters with great chemistry. —TE

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. ThompsonCast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac

2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a genuine before-and-after moment in the history of American animation. The film not only introduced a new generation of audiences to Miles Morales, but sent a shockwave through the entire industry through its pioneering approach to CGI animation that drew heavily from the texture and techniques of comic book storytelling. In short, it was a bona fide cultural phenomenon. How exactly do you top that?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse feels like an answer to that question on several fronts; visually, tonally, and technically. Miles is faced with a personal and moral dilemma in the form of the Spot, a dimension-hopping supervillain whose vendetta against Spider-Man threatens to endanger the entire multiverse. If that weren’t enough, Miles inadvertently runs afoul of Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), the leader of a group of Spider-People from alternate universes, who believes Miles himself is the source of the problem.

From its spectacular fight sequences to its gorgeous multiversal vistas to its absolutely bangin’ soundtrack, Across the Spider-Verse steps up to the challenge of following up one of most acclaimed American animated films in years and nails it out of the park. It’s a genuine sight to behold. With one more movie on the way, the question circles back: How exactly are they gonna top this? —TE

The Summit of the Gods

Director: Patrick ImbertCast: Lazare Herson-Macarel, Eric Herson-Macarel, Damien Boisseau

This 2021 French-language animated drama centers on Makoto Fukamachi, a tenacious reporter who accidentally stumbles upon the biggest mountaineering story of the century: Proof that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, not Sir Edmund Hillary, were the first climbers to reach the peak of Mount Everest in 1924. However, his only lead to break the story — an elusive mountain climber known as Habu Joji — has been missing for several years. Poring over the details of Joji’s life in the years preceding his disappearance, Makoto finds himself inadvertently drawn by the very same sense of accomplishment and meaning that has compelled countless climbers to crest Everest themselves.

Based on Jiro Taniguchi’s 2000 manga series, The Summit of the Gods is a gorgeously animated drama about the elusive quest for personal and professional validation and the perils of hubris and selfishness. The backgrounds are spectacular, the character animation is impressive, and the film’s final moments are as exhilarating as they are profoundly edifying. Brace yourself for a film that exemplifies “adult animation,” not as a juvenile display of hyper-violence and superficial titillation, but as a story about what it means to move through the world as an adult and find one’s place and purpose in it. —TE

They Cloned Tyrone

Director: Juel TaylorCast: John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris

If a pulp mystery-thriller that plays out like a Blaxploitation-style take on Jordan Peele’s Us by way of the anti-authority storytelling of Boots Riley sounds enticing to you, They Cloned Tyrone is an absolute must-watch.

John Boyega stars as Fontaine, a streetwise hustler who is gunned down after an altercation with a rival drug dealer. Miraculously, Fontaine wakes up the next morning completely unharmed with no memory of the confrontation whatsoever. Together with the help of local pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and a retired sex worker Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), Fontaine stumbles upon a terrifying secret: His neighborhood is the site of a clandestine government operation experimenting with cloning technology and subliminal manipulation. Faced with the existential terror of this revelation, the trio must either expose this conspiracy or surrender to the roles ordained to them.

Sharply well written, brilliantly performed, and studded with satisfying surprising and twists up to its very last minutes, They Cloned Tyrone is a standout of recent Netflix movies. —TE

Upgrade

Director: Leigh WhannellCast: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson

Sci-fi dystopias are rarely as fun as Leigh Whannell’s fiendishly gory cyberpunk film. Set in the not-so-distant future, Upgrade centers on the story of Grey, an auto mechanic who is rendered a quadriplegic after suffering a near-fatal gunshot from a gang of men responsible for murdering his wife. Now, I know what you’re thinking, that doesn’t sound fun at all; it isn’t.

The fun part actually kicks in when Grey is implanted with an experimental AI-assisted prosthesis that, in addition to restoring his ability to walk, also grants him the power to kick some serious ass — though at the expense of granting the AI complete, albeit momentary, control over his body. The real shining quality of Upgrade is not just its production design, with futuristic interior architecture juxtaposed with dilapidated urban environments and abandoned factory floors, but its inventive fight cinematography and camerawork using a smartphone and an ARRI ALEXA Mini camera. It’s certainly not a joyful film by any stretch of the imagination, but Upgrade’s action sequences alone are exhilarating and entertaining enough to make it worth watching the entire film as a whole, which I gotta say, is not bad at all. —TE

Wingwomen

Director: Mélanie LaurentCast: Mélanie Laurent, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Manon Bresch

There’s a place for movies like Alien, where a script written for a male lead character was left unchanged when a woman was cast in the role. But there’s also a place for movies like Wingwomen, an action comedy that thrives in its specificity around its characters and their experiences as women in our world.

In Wingwomen, Carole (director-star Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) has a very close and protective relationship with younger Alex (Adèle Exarchopoulos) — a found family situation. They are both caught in the web of crime lord Marraine (Isabelle Adjani) and looking for a way out. When they meet a new member of their team — skilled racer Sam (Manon Bresch) — they see an opportunity for one last score to break away from their life of crime and live peacefully together.

Fun, exciting, and endearing, you will not have more fun at the movies than watching Wingwomen. I wish for 20 more years of Laurent directing and starring in fun genre pictures — especially if they also star Exarchopoulos, who between this and Passages delivered two of the most memorable performances of 2023. —PV

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