The next entry in the Reigns series is coming this fall, and it’s a big one. Reigns: Game of Thrones takes the core Reigns mechanics and art style, fleshes out the gameplay with a number of new minigames and features, and maps it all to the world of Westeros. Dying is a key element of the Reigns series, as a larger narrative plays out over generations of kings and queens. Reigns: Game of Thrones is no different; with each death, the game resets on Melisandre the Red Priestess, looking through th

Capcom brings the Monster Hunter franchise to Nintendo Switch this week with the eShop release of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, an upgraded version of the game that was originally released on Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Don’t expect the more player-friendly refinements of Capcom’s Monster Hunter World, which hit consoles and PC earlier this year, but do expect a deep, content-stuffed and challenging action-RPG. (And check out Polygon’s beginner’s guide if you’re diving into Monster Hunter for t

Destiny 2 developer Bungie was on hand Thursday at the Gamescom convention in Germany with a grim errand. Game director Steve Cotton and project lead Scott Taylor revealed, live on stage, the in-game cinematic of the death of Cayde-6. In the video, Cayde-6 is shown inside a rubble-strewn building, cornered by an overwhelming force of Fallen soldiers. In the close-quarters scrum that unfolds, Cayde does what he does best and brings down dozens of enemies with his hand cannon, the Ace of Spades. W

Twitch has announced its most massive marathon yet: a Pokémon anime event that will feature 19 TV seasons (932 episodes) and 16 Pokémon movies out of a total 20 TV seasons and 21 movies. In addition, viewers will be able to catch Pokémon alongside Ash and his friends — the event features an interactive overlay that will allow participants to virtually collect Pokémon badges. Episodes and movies will be broadcast through a series of marathons beginning on Aug. 27 and continuing into 2019. Pokémon

Sony’s 500 Million Limited Edition PlayStation 4 Pro bundle, which includes a gorgeous translucent blue PS4 Pro console with copper details and 2 TB of storage, goes on sale Friday, Aug. 24. The 500 Million bundle includes a matching DualShock 4 controller, PlayStation Camera, mono headset and vertical stand in addition to the console. In September, the controller will be available separately for $64.99, and a limited edition headset will be available for $99.99. A few other retailers will be se

Last year, NBA 2K18’s audio designers brought in two future basketball Hall-of-Famers and gave them guest slots — guest slots, mind you — in the game’s broadcast package, like many do for some real-life regular season broadcasts. NBA 2K19 will bring back Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, and add a third: Bill Simmons. Toward the end of his 14-year tenure with ESPN, which ended in 2015, Simmons would occasionally join the network’s NBA commentary team and studio panel. It’s one more way in which Vis

All Destiny 2 owners will soon get the chance to try out one of the biggest new elements of the game’s upcoming expansion, Destiny 2: Forsaken: the Crucible mode Gambit. Destiny 2 developer Bungie will run a free trial for Gambit starting on Saturday, Sept. 1. Because the Gambit trial will pop up within Destiny 2, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners will need to have an active subscription to PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold, respectively, to play it. Gambit is one of Forsaken’s most exciting of

In Fortnite’s most recent patch, a brand-new location was added to the map: Tomato Temple. As the name suggests, this new location is a giant temple with a tomato head at the top. Tomato Temple replaces Tomato Town on the map, with the temple itself seeming to fall from the sky and crush the old restaurant that once dominated the tiny location. First and foremost, Tomato Temple fixes this problem. Tomato Temple provides a perfect change of pace after doing a few Salty Springs drops in a row.

Call of Duty: WWII’s fourth and final DLC extension may be shared by owners with players who haven’t purchased it from Aug. 28 to Oct. 28, Sledgehammer Games and Activision announced today. Sledgehammer Games said the setting is “a hangar full of UFOs,” and the gear available includes a Tesla Gun and “mysterious super soldier serums,” that buff players up, making melee weapons especially useful. The Frozen Dawn is the Nazi Zombies conclusion, reuniting the four heroes in the lost city of Thule a

With 2015’s Life is Strange, Square Enix and Dontnod Entertainment introduced a normalized depiction of young, bisexual women to a mainstream audience. Life is Strange 2 is continuing that trend, even if it seems disappointing on first glance. Our co-stars in Life is Strange 2 are the Diaz brothers, whose story begins when they flee their Seattle suburb after a run-in with the police. Perhaps the reference is subtle, although Life is Strange has never been much for subtlety. Whichever way you lo

Bandai Namco today announced Bless Unleashed, a free-to-play MMO for Xbox One that will be the publisher’s first for a console. Launching in 2019, Bless Unleashed was billed as “an untamed world with a rich backstory created with hardcore MMO gamers in mind,” according to a statement by Bandai Namco. The game is being developed by Round 8 Studio of Neowiz, the South Korea-based makers of Bless Online. Bandai Namco’s statement said Bless Unleashed will be developed with Unreal Engine 4. “Every as

When you’re playing a game like World of Warcraft, you expect that getting gear levels you up. Battle for Azeroth, with it’s brand-new end-game content, is starting to really struggle under the weight of that decision. The effects are so bad that some players are removing their new Heart of Azeroth neck piece and other bits of gear so that the game becomes less of a grind. But the result is that players are finding World Quests to be a bit of a slog, and leveling up creates the feeling of the wo

Rocket League’s newest update, which overhauls the game’s XP and progression systems, will roll out to all platforms on Aug. 29, Psyonix announced today. The Progression Update will be followed, by one week, by the introduction of the “Rocket Pass.” Psyonix said. The Progression Update will also add “Clubs,” which allows players to organize and compete as a team under a custom tag. As for Rocket Pass, that will be a premium means of acquiring all of the new content for Rocket League’s currently

Arsène Lupin III, star of the long-running Lupin III anime franchise, has remained relevant for a different reason: heists are extremely cool, no matter what you use to pull them off. Glay’s meme, the “Lupin game,” has one simple rule: to find Lupin and take photos of him. Over one hundred million people start playing the Lupin game, and variations on Lupin and “Lupin game” top the trending charts on the show’s version of Twitter. Eventually, we see two guys hanging out outside a gas station com

There’s an easy solution — or, at least, easy enough — to this problem: watch The Tatami Galaxy. The most exciting of these is The Tatami Galaxy, which ran for 11 episodes in 2010. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl lives in this same bizarro universe, with some recurring characters — Otome’s new drinking buddies? It’s a hyper-stylized cartoon, and The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl feels so energizing from that regard. Just remember that The Tatami Galaxy set it up first — and is essential viewing

Stan Twitter by its very nature is both accessible and inaccessible. Anyone can find a fandom they support, but trying to understand a totally foreign online culture is difficult without heavy investment. We understand why people participate in Stan Twitter — excitement over finding others they can geek out with over a show or celebrity they truly love is a universal feeling — but rarely do independent Stan Twitter fandoms intersect. New memes are changing that, like intertwining hands or a rece

Still, Infinity War, directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, is a hyper-masculine film. This isn’t necessarily a knock on Infinity War. Given the chance to pick Tran’s brain about the making of Infinity War, I asked via e-mail about how the female perspective directly impacted the latest Avengers movie. “What really stood out in Avengers: Infinity War was Wanda, Widow and Okoye[’s] fight against Proxima,” she wrote back. “Films are always stronger when they benefit from having different pers

Paramount Pictures is bringing another video game-based film to the big screen, because the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog film wasn’t enough. Patrick Osborne, who is currently directing the Nimona film adaption, has been tapped to direct a live-action/CG film based on Ustwo’s breakthrough mobile game Monument Valley. Noted for its forward momentum and strong atmosphere, Monument Valley was widely regarded as one of the best mobile games of 2014. The film will situate live actors in Monument Valley

Bungie has announced that the clan perks in season 4 are much better, even giving some concrete details about the upcoming expansion’s bonuses. Players will earn clan perks in Forsaken by gaining experience over the season, however, the leveling process is a bit more interesting. Ranks five and six will offer players additional resources. The weekly clan milestone engram will offer players a guaranteed Masterwork Core — a valuable resource for upgrading their weapons — at rank six. While it’s no

The world of Warcraft is filled with all sorts of characters, and some of them have been sitting on the sidelines for years. With a new expansion, like World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard always has opportunities to share new stories and bring back old characters. Here are some of the cryptic hints they gave us about the future of World of Warcraft. [Spoiler warning: This article goes into the plot of the Before the Storm novel as well as past World of Warcraft expansions and Battle