Category: Video Gaming

Civilization 7 developers Firaxis have undergone a “staff reduction” affecting an unspecified number of workers today, publishers 2K have confirmed to RPS.

News of the cuts broke via a series of posts from now former Firaxis writer Emma Kidwell. “I was affected by the layoffs at Firaxis, and am open to full time writing work at your studio,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m an incredibly adaptable writer who wrote on Civilization VII and Marvel’s Midnight Suns during my (nearly) 5 years at the studio, and I encourage you to keep an eye out for my former colleagues who were also laid off.”

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Apart from balance patches, The Sims 4 developers have been a little quiet recently. The team has certainly been cooking, though, because we just had our first look at the game’s next big moment.

The next major release for The Sims 4 is Adventure Awaits, the expansion that’s just been revealed.

Today’s trailer is brief, only really serving to unveil Adventure Awaits to the world. As with most trailers these days, it arrived via the medium of YouTube Premieres, and quite a few people had been idling in chat prior to the big moment, waiting for the countdown to reach zero.

As most players had already predicted, the theme of Adventure Awaits is vacations, with two new locations to explore as part of the new goal-oriented “getaway” system: Camp Gibbi Gibbi, a woodland destination reminiscent of kids’ summer camps, and Love Highland, a beach villa style resort which apparently incorporates some reality TV inspired “challenges”.

Highlights of the pack’s new and returning features include the reintroduction of the Imaginary Friend occult type (arguably The Sims 3‘s most uncomfortable supernatural life state), modular treehouses, customisable vacation venues, and the apparent ability to WooHoo in open water.

There are also new options to work out with spin bikes and freeweights, and a new Park Worker career, with Forest Ranger and Camp Counsellor branches. Older Sims can now gain the Competitive trait, while child Sims get plenty of new Simology of their own, from a new Aspiration to more traits, sentiments, and milestone moments.

That’s almost all we know for now, but we only have to wait one more week until the official gameplay trailer reveals more on September 10th. Meantime, we do at least have a release date for the pack already: October 2nd, with the usual limited-edition pre-order goodies available for anyone who buys before November 13th.

The Sims 4’s most recent expansion release has been Enchanted by Nature, which arrived on July 10. Since then, theres been one major update, which released last month. The DLC has been pretty popular with the community, too.

We recently spoke to YouTuber Eva Rotky about how the game’s build/buy tools have evolved over the years, what remains missing, and what she’d been up to since Enchanted by Nature came out. Hit the link for the full conversation – and this one if you want to appease the gnomes.

Dragon Quest is one of the most acclaimed and influential series in gaming. If you’ve ever played a Japanese (or Japanese-inspired) RPG, it probably owes a debt to this amazing franchise.

And it all started with Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II.

These games captivated players by sending them on epic adventures across expansive worlds full of imaginative locales, while battling all manner of monsters. It was an experience like few others.

New Gameplay Overview Trailer offers a look at exploration, combat, party lineup, and more.

Now these games are hitting PlayStation consoles for the first time in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. These are no simple retro revivals though – both games have been fully remade and enhanced, with new features that make them feel fresh and modern without sacrificing their original charm.

They’ve been rebuilt in the stunning HD-2D visual style made famous by series like Octopath Traveler, and feature additional content, gameplay improvements, tons of quality-of-life features like objective markers and auto-battle features and much more.

It’s basically two of the most respected RPGs ever made, but made better. If you’re a fan of the genre, they’re a must-play.

But what went into the game and their many enhancements? We spoke to Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake Producer Masaaki Hayasaka to find out:

Why did you decide to remake Dragon Quest I and II?

There have been lots of ports and remasters of Dragon Quest I, II and III released over the years, but there hasn’t been a full remake in a very long time.  Octopath Traveler established the HD-2D graphical style, and with HD-2D graphics, the more retro a game is, the more its true value is revealed. Since the titles that make up the Erdrick trilogy are the most retro of all the Dragon Quest titles, and the starting point of the franchise as a whole, we realised that the HD-2D style would be a perfect fit, and so we resolved to remake them.

Why did you decide to include both remakes in one package?

The main reasons behind this were to do with the practicalities of production. If we had decided to release Dragon Quest I and II as separate titles, then there would have been a lot to consider: like how we price the games appropriately for the amount of content, how that pricing would affect players’ perceptions of the games, what to do about release windows etc. Another big factor behind this decision was that releasing both games as a single set would mean that we could present players with a package that wraps up the Erdrick Trilogy quicker than having two separate releases. Making everything separately would have taken much more time.

Why did you feel that HD-2D was the right visual style to rebuild these games?

As I mentioned previously, the more retro a game is, the more HD-2D really shows its true value. Having worked on HD-2D titles ever since the launch of  Octopath Traveler, I got to see for myself how the HD-2D style came into existence, and how it was received by the world. Also, the Live a Live remake—also made by Square Enix’s Team Asano—was the first instance of a HD-2D remake title, and that was very well received, so it gave me confidence as I embarked on this project.

It’s a very beautiful game. How did you approach the challenge of turning 2D environments into visually impressive 3D ones?

The most difficult thing about converting 2D into 3D was the environments. For this remake, we more-or-less adhered to the structures of the environments from the original game, from the placement of the buildings in the towns to the positioning and path making of the staircases in the dungeons (I would love for someone to look at the environments from directly above and compare them with the original game!). 

So even though the game’s visuals have been changed significantly, I wanted people who played the original game to still be able to rely on their memories of it — to be able to say, “I seem to remember that if I go over here, then I’ll find this thing… Yep! There it is!”. Taking aspects of the original game that were designed in 2D and recreating them in 3D while still preserving the structure of the original really puts your level-design skills to the test, but the map team and the planning team did a fantastic job, which meant that we were able to achieve just what we set out to do.

Why did you decide to release this after Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake?

When I think about I, II and III, I think that Dragon Quest III was the most complete title out of the three, including in terms of its game mechanics. Dragon Quest III was also a cultural phenomenon in Japan, and I had some discussions with Yuji Horii in which he said he’d like to see the Erdrick Trilogy remade with Dragon Quest III coming out first as a sort of entry point, so that was how the Dragon Quest III remake got started. So it was decided at the very beginning of the project that we wanted the games to be played in the order III, I, II.

Do you need to have played Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake to enjoy these games?

Dragon Quests I, II and III all tell standalone stories, so of course players can enjoy these games without having played Dragon Quest III. However, these remakes offer a fresh retelling of the story of Erdrick in chronological order starting with Dragon Quest III, followed by I and II, and there are certain twists and turns in store that will be particularly surprising if you play the games in that order, so I would like for people to play the HD-2D remakes in the order III, I, II, and from a developer standpoint as well, I recommend playing them in that order!

Why do you think Dragon Quest I and II still hold up as great games, even so many years later?

I think a big part of it could be that these titles hold the distinction of being the starting point of the Dragon Quest series, which has endured for around 40 years, as well as the starting point of JRPGs themselves. I think that you could say this of other IPs as well, but when you find a series that you like, you naturally reach a point where you want to play the first title in the series. On top of that, Dragon Quest was a pioneering title that influenced many of the JRPGs that came after it. And so when people actually try Dragon Quests I and II for themselves and get a sense of all these elements that have appeared again in all kinds of JRPGs, I think they come to understand why it’s such a masterpiece.

For many people, particularly regions outside Japan and America, this will be their first time experiencing these games. Why should RPG fans be excited to play these titles?

Recently, a lot of RPGs have adopted more action gameplay elements, but this remake respects the original, and it’s presented in a classic command-battle RPG style. The enemy encounters are random as well, rather than being triggered by walking up to monsters on the map. So conversely, titles like this are actually rare nowadays, and it feels like we may have gone full circle, to the point that they’re now considered fresh again. As I mentioned previously, these games have influenced a huge number of JRPGs—it isn’t really possible to talk about JRPGs without mentioning them—so I believe that people are going to find them really interesting to play, precisely because of when they’re coming out.

What were your key priorities when you started development of these games?

When we were working on the recent HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III, our goal was to avoid tampering with the original as far as possible, and to only add a little embellishment. For this title, however, our approach was that we could change as much as we wanted to, as long as the core of the game was still intact, and we placed great importance on the knowledge that we could make changes. That being said, if we had made too many changes, then we would have transformed the game into something completely different. But if we had restricted ourselves too much on what we could change, then people would have said, “why not just play the original?”. So we were particularly careful about finding that balance, and I think that in the end, we landed on something that is really good.

How have you made these games more convenient for modern players?

When we were working on the Dragon Quest III remake, we did a lot of work to improve playability. We added an autosave feature, a quick restart following a game over, location guides, destination markers, difficulty options, enemy weakness indicators, UI control improvements etc., etc. And for this game we have also included the Short-Cut Commands feature, which allows players to set shortcuts for their favourite commands to specific buttons, which should scratch the itch for most players. So I think that this game offers an appropriate level of user-friendliness for a modern title.

Both games feature additional scenarios. Why did you want to add these into the games?

The original games were obviously released in the order I, II, III, but as I said earlier, we’re releasing them in the order III, I, II this time around. The revelation that the original Dragon Quest III had a narrative connection with Dragon Quest I was hugely impactful, but we couldn’t replicate that in the remakes. So instead, we decided to release them in the order that the events of the Erdrick Trilogy take place, starting with III, followed by I and II, and we decided to make the most of this by adding some new story elements.

Without spoiling anything, what additional story elements do people have to look forward to in the games?

I think the phrase, “epic conclusion” just about sums it up. We added some elements of foreshadowing in the recent Dragon Quest III remake, including some mysteries that don’t get tied up in that game, and for this title, we have incorporated all sorts of content: some things that aren’t addressed at all in the original game, some things that we think fans of the original will be curious to know more about, and some twists that I don’t think anybody will see coming. I think that there are quite a few surprises in store for anyone playing this game. I can’t wait to hear what everybody makes of this once the game is out.

How difficult was it to add elements to these games so that they felt natural, but didn’t detract from the original charm?

During development, we had to keep in mind that we wanted to strike the balance between making changes wherever we saw fit, without undermining the original game, so this was something that was constantly playing on our minds. However, we also had Horii-san on our side, so we were constantly having discussions with him, and we were able to move forwards with development one step at a time.

Why have you added the Princess of Cannock as a new playable character in Dragon Quest II?

We wanted to come up with something that would make this title stand out. There are a lot of examples of remakes of mainline Dragon Quest titles adding new vocations or new party members, and we were aware that these had been very well received by fans. The recent remake of Dragon Quest III included the new monster wrangler vocation. Since this game is a sequel to Dragon Quest III, we knew that we had to come up with a standout new feature that measured up to the monster wrangler, and so we came up with this idea for the Princess of Cannock. She appears in the original game as well, and just like the game’s protagonist, she too is a descendant of Erdrick, so there was a lot of speculation among fans that she might become a party character at some point. I don’t think there’s anybody better suited to the role than her.

What lessons did you learn from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and how have they helped you develop this title?

Dragon Quest III taught me that everybody has their own opinions on what they think a remake title should look like. The more famous a game is, the greater the variety of people’s opinions about what they expect to be included and what would be the best approach. And this isn’t just true of players; it’s true of developers as well. It’s physically impossible to satisfy everyone’s desires for a remake, so you have to try and find the best approach that you think will please fans the most, while also taking into account time constraints and the limitations of the game structure as well. 

The scope for what we’re changing is much bigger for this remake of Dragon Quest I and II than it was for the Dragon Quest III remake, so the decision-making process for which of those opinions we adopt and which we disregard was considerably more difficult. That being said, our stance during development was always to take the approach that we knew would please the largest number of people.

What have been the most challenging things about developing Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake?

That would have to be the story. For RPGs, the story is the root out of which everything else grows. The environments, character sprites and other aspects of the game are the branches and leaves that grow out of that root, so development can’t move forwards until the story is decided upon. The more you tweak the story, the more difficult it is to remake the game, and for this game we certainly made some major enhancements to the story. We spent a lot of time on the story, including discussions and tweaks with Horii-san, so I think you could say that this was a pretty major challenge.

How did you overcome these challenges?

A lot of very dependable staff joined the project partway through, both internally and externally. Thanks to them we were somehow able to figure it out. If those people hadn’t joined the project, then I think it would still be unfinished even now. I think that this is true of any project, and not just games, but ultimately it all depends on the talents of each individual member of the team. I am truly grateful to each and every member of this team.

What are you most excited for fans to discover when they play Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake?

I can’t reveal any details yet, but I think that the new story content will really resonate with a lot of Dragon Quest fans, regardless of whether they’ve played the original or not. I hope fans will look forward to this. Also, just like with the Dragon Quest III remake, Dragon Quests I and II feature a lot of famous lines of dialogue, events and characters. Try to spot all the different references as you play through the main story!

I hope that people will really enjoy this title that serves as both the starting point of the Dragon Quest franchise, and the starting point of JRPGs in general! And I also hope that people will enjoy seeing the story of Erdrick through to its conclusion! 

Many thanks to Hayasaka-san for answering our many questions about the game. Here’s one more you might have: when can I play it?!

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake launches October 30, 2025 on PS5. It’s available to preorder now – we can’t wait for you to discover what these two games have in store!

Ahead of its launch in October, Square Enix has revealed more details on Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake, focusing on how combat has been enhanced and new items that players can take advantage of. Just like the original JRPGs, players will once again encounter monsters as they explore an overworld and several dungeons, with combat revolving around turn-based battles.

All the staples of the classic Dragon Quest gameplay are here–like spells and skills–but if you’re having a tough time, the game will suggest the optimal actions you can take to exploit the weaknesses of monsters. This is an optional setting found in the game menu, and once enabled, it will show text above the enemy that indicates which of your moves will be effective against it.

Another new feature being introduced are Scrolls, which will allow characters to learn additional spells and skills. These can be obtained from treasure chests throughout the games, but they can only be used on specific characters. The five sigils–Sun, Star, Moon, Water, and Soul–that originally appeared in Dragon Quest 2 return in Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake, and these will activate various effects in battle once they have been collected.

In Dragon Quest 1 HD, sigils can be acquired through a quest to assist the fairies, and in Dragon Quest 2 HD, sigils are collected as part of a mission to defeat Hargon, the evil high priest who leads an army of monsters. Each sigil offers unique bonuses, like guaranteed critical hit damage for special abilities and other abilities will be upgraded if certain conditions are met.

Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake launches on October 30 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and Switch. if you’re planning to play the game on Nintendo hardware, it’s worth noting that there will be no upgrade path between the different Switch console releases.

“The games are a stunning marriage of classic pixel art and modern touches. I hadn’t realized how much better Square Enix’s ‘HD-2D’ aesthetic had become in recent years,” Steve Watts wrote in GameSpot’s Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake preview. “The color palette and saturation feels reminiscent of 8-bit classics, which makes the beautiful sprite artwork pop.”

For those looking to add some games to their PC library as the chilly fall weather starts to roll in, September’s Humble Choice lineup has officially been announced. This includes a wide variety of games, including WWE 2K25, Destiny 2: Legacy Collection, The Plucky Squire, and five others you can stock up on for just $14.99 if you sign up for a Humble Choice membership. On top of those games, this month also comes with one month of IGN Plus for free, which allows you to turn off ads across the site, get free games, and more.

Humble Choice – September 2025

Surprise! The Sulfur demo is available today on PlayStation 5.

Sulfur is a fast-paced FPS roguelike where guns evolve, enemies mutate, and cooking is as important as shooting. To celebrate the release, we’ve put together a new trailer and the Top 5 things you can do right now in the demo. Almost everything you see in the new trailer can be played for free in the demo today!

1. Customize your weapons

Loot isn’t just about firepower, it’s about personality. Pick your favorite weapon out of the 20+ unique guns available in the demo and use strange scrolls to transform them into something completely new. Rechamber a revolver to fire 12 gauge shells, enchant a SMG to launch railgun bullets, or equip an automatic shotgun with a laser sight and hunting scope. Construct cursed firearms with enchanted projectiles, bouncing bullets, or anything else you can think of. In Sulfur, every aspect of your firearm is modifiable.

2. Cook food you didn’t know you wanted

Between fights, toss scavenged ingredients into your cauldron and see what happens. Some foods give bonuses only when cooked, others can be consumed raw. Experimentation is half the fun! Once you discover a new recipe, it will automatically be stored in your recipe book for quick crafting in the future.

3. Explore ever changing levels

After each death or extraction, the caves are randomized. Progress deeper with each new life carrying more upgrades and wisdom. Reach deeper floors to uncover more secrets. Encounter strange NPCs, scarier enemies, and random ambushes. Each time you descend, the caves change. Strange NPCs, new ambushes, deeper secrets – no two runs are the same. And remember, your life is only as valuable as your gear.

4. Manage your loot like your life depends on it

Because it does. Your bag never feels big enough for everything, which forces tough choices. Do you carry an extra gun, collect armor sets, or save room for more trinkets? Most of the equipment from the full game has a chance to drop in the demo. End-game gear is extremely rare but can be obtained if you’re persistent (or lucky). Barter with NPCs to get more stuff for your stash. Even in the demo, you’ll get a taste of late-game chaos before the full release.

5. Outsmart enemies

Since Sulfur is a roguelike FPS, each run teaches you something new, whether it’s a recipe, or a weapon combo that works – one you’ll swear by, or one you’ll swear over. Even if you lose all your uninsured items when you die, the church’s collection box will return some money to keep you afloat. Find out what works for you and reequip yourself by trading with the vendors at the church.

The new Sulfur trailer shows all this in action, but nothing beats trying it yourself. Download the demo today on PlayStation 5 and step into the world of Sulfur!

See you there!

Would you swap out your car’s motor for a nitro-burning drag engine if you could do it yourself and do it for pennies on the dollar? Of course you would, but unfortunately, unless you’re an automotive expert with a killer garage and a death wish, you can’t. But you can do the PC desktop equivalent of that kind of massive power upgrade — it’s easy, and while Amazon’s selling the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor for just $259 during a limited-time deal, it’s peanuts compared to the price of buying a whole new desktop rig.

This is a terrific deal for anyone looking to transform a blah PC desktop into a raging speed demon, but it’s especially great if you’re a gamer looking to upgrade a rig or are thinking about building your own from scratch. With 8 performance cores and 12 efficient cores, and that awesome max clock speed of 5.5GHz, the Intel Core Ultra 7 is begging to be the engine for high-end lag-free PC gaming.

See at Amazon

More Than Speed

The Intel Core Ultra 7 processor is compatible with Intel 800 Series Chipset-based motherboards, and supports PCIe 5.0 and 4.0, along with DDR5. It’s clearly a speed demon, with more than enough horsepower to blast your way through the most rugged action games and shooters, but those performance and efficient cores also let your PC run cooler, which means less power consumption and less chance of sustaining overheating-related damage.

There’s a significant brain upgrade with the Intel Core Ultra 7 too, in addition to all that brawn. Intel’s Ultra processor-based AI is the key to better streaming and gaming than ever before, with an NPU that takes on tasks like background removal and auto-framing and applies AI to them to create the smoothest gaming and streaming experience yet.

Optimization Across the Board

The Core Ultra 7 processor features Intel’s Application Optimization tech, a customizable way to devote more of the processor’s incredible power to the games and applications you want to give a max boost to. The user interface lets you see which games are optimized, and to turn it on or off for individual games as you see fit. Combined with Ultra processor-based AI, this is future-proofed gaming guaranteed, with the absolute maximum speed and performance always at the ready.

Buying an all-new PC desktop with this much power is an expensive proposition indeed, and now thanks to this limited-time deal at Amazon, it’s one you can skip entirely. With the price of the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor slashed by 36%, all the way down to $259, the smart choice is to perform a little DIY brain surgery on your existing PC, or build one around this monster processor.

See at Amazon

Silksong comes out in less than 10 hours. By the time you read this it’ll be even less than that. Heck, if you read this tomorrow, the game will already be out. Notice how I sound like an idiot? It’s because Silksong is upon us, and I’m excited. I’d rather be playing it right now than writing this.

Every new detail on Silksong is of utmost importance: even the fact that it has ultrawide support. Silksong marketing guy Matthew Griffin confirmed as much earlier today. “For PC players, screen ratios up to 21:9 are fully supported,” he posted on X, along with some screenshots to prove it (see them below, but don’t get too excited: they’re screenshots you’ve seen before, only wider now).

Fans of the horror-comedy anthology franchise Creepshow now have two cool Blu-ray releases to look forward to this fall. Arrow Video’s upcoming 4K restoration of Creepshow 2 has been available to preorder since July, but now you can also reserve a unique Blu-ray box set collecting all four seasons of Shudder’s recent anthology series. Creepshow: Complete Series Collector’s Edition is available to preorder for $100 at Walmart and Amazon ahead of its November 11 release.

Just like Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition, the TV series collection leans into the franchise’s roots and inspirations with a CRT TV display box containing comic book-inspired disc cases. It looks like an awesome collectible for Creepshow fans.

Neither retailer has a full product description for the box set, so we’re not entirely sure what’s going on with the miniature CRT TV in the image above. But with the TV display showing The Creep and the Creepshow logo with a red background, it seems like you can flip between screens. Perhaps with the dial on the front? That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if those are removable cards that you slide into place. Turning the dial to change channels might be wishful thinking. Each of the four seasons has its own case modeled after the in-universe Creepshow comics and Stephen King’s original graphic novel.

The box set also comes with a comic book based on “Skeletons in the Closet,” which is one of the vignettes in Season 3, Episode 2. Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition 4K Blu-ray also includes a physical comic book, but only if you snag a copy from the first printing before it sells out. The comic is an adaptation of an unpublished Stephen King story that was cut from the 1987 film. Creepshow 2 Limited Edition releases September 30 for $50. While you wait for both Creepshow releases, check out the original 1982 anthology’s 4K Steelbook Edition for only $27.79 (was $40) at Amazon.

If you love Creepshow, you’ve come to the right place. Along with details on the two upcoming releases, we put together lists of Creepshow Blu-rays, making-of books, and the ongoing comic book anthology series. So make sure to creep farther down for some great Creepshow deals–unless you’d rather look for yourself, in which case you can check out these Amazon hubs we created: Creepshow Blu-rays | Creepshow books and comics.

$100 | Releases November 11

Creepshow debuted on Shudder in 2019 and quickly became one of the horror streamer’s marquee original series. It was undoubtedly a huge subscription seller for Shudder, especially Season 1 was the best take on the franchise since the original movie.

The anthology series ran for four seasons and 25 episodes, including two TV specials, before ending in 2023. Episodes of Creepshow include a pair of distinct vignettes, roughly 20-25 minutes each.

Franchise creators Stephen King and George A. Romero weren’t involved with the production, but a few episodes are based on King’s short stories, including the show’s very first vignette “Gray Matter,” adapted from a story in King’s excellent collection Night Shift. The 2020 Halloween special adapted “Survivor Type” from Skeleton Crew. The back half of the special was based on “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” from the story collection Full Throttle by Joe Hill, who also happens to be King’s eldest son.

The 9-disc box set has a total runtime of roughly 18 hours. All 23 episodes and the two specials are displayed in 1080p resolution and support DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Bonus features include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and photo galleries.

If you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes content, you should also check out Shudder’s Creepshow: From Script to Scream, a 240-page coffee-table book with a foreword by Stephen King.

$50 | Releases September 30

Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition is a native 4K restoration from the original camera negative with HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10) and three audio formats: 5.1 DTS-HD, stereo, and lossless monaural.

Arrow Video originally created a 2K restoration that released as Creepshow 2: Special Edition back in 2016 on 1080p Blu-ray. The on-disc special features for the 4K release largely mirror the Special Edition. The reversible sleeve and cover art by Mike Saputo matches the 2016 release, too.

Just like the first printing of the 1080p Blu-ray, the 4K release includes two limited-edition booklets. These are no longer included with the standard Blu-ray and were limited to 3,000 units, but now you have another chance. For reference, the first printing has a red sleeve, but after it sells out, it’ll likely switch to a blue sleeve like the Blu-ray edition.

Most notably, you’ll get a booklet with the comic adaptation of “Pinfall,” one of the two stories that were cut from the film. The story was written by Stephen King and adapted into a script by George Romero. Jason Mayoh adapted the story into a comic for the Blu-ray release in 2016. Along with the comic booklet, you’ll get an illustrated booklet with commentary from Michael Blyth.

“Pinfall” has never been published as a short story or filmed, so this is the only way to experience one of Stephen King’s unpublished stories.

Creepshow 2 4K Limited Edition Bonuses

• “Pinfall” comic booklet (adaptation of unpublished King story)
• Illustrated booklet with commentary on the film
• Collector’s sleeve with original artwork and reversible cover art
• Featurettes, audio commentaries, and interviews

A full list of on-disc special features can be found at the end of this article. For a deep dive on the sequel, check out The Making of Creepshow 2, a 320-page account of the film’s production based on production documents and author Lee Karr’s conversations with cast and crew.

$28 (was $40)

Though you can watch Creepshow 2 without watching the original, the 1982 anthology is a more well-rounded collection of horror-comedy stories, so it doesn’t really make sense to skip it. Plus, it’s already available on 4K Blu-ray. A Collector’s Edition released in 2023, and the awesome Steelbook Edition shown above arrived just in time for Halloween last year. The Limited Edition Steelbook is on sale for $27.89 (was $40), only two bucks more than the Collector’s Edition.

Both editions include 4K Blu-ray and standard 1080p Blu-rays and the same special features. The film was remastered in 4K using the original camera negatives and supports HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10), Dolby Atmos audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0. Special features include audio commentary with George Romero, a roundtable on the making of the anthology, and a whole bunch more. You can check out the full list at the bottom of this article.

Creepshow and its numerous follow-ups blend horror and comedy while paying homage to classic comics like Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear. Directed by George Romero, the 1982 original is an anthology film with five distinct vignettes. Stories include a murdered man rising from the dead, a mysterious meteor that lands on a remote farm, and a cockroach army that’s hunting a man with Entomophobia.

Stephen King made his screenwriting debut with Creepshow, and two of the five tales were adapted from his short fiction. Creepshow wears its comic book influences on its sleeve, and King adapted the film into a graphic novel the same year the film premiered.

Creepshow 2’s screenplay was written by Romero and directed by the original film’s cinematographer Michael Gornick. Though originally planned to mirror its predecessor with five vignettes, only three made it into the movie: “Old Chief Wood’nhead,” “The Raft,” and “The Hitch-hiker.” All three are based on King’s short stories, but “The Raft” is the only one that has been published and collected in the author’s heralded collection Skeleton Crew.

“Cat from Hell,” the other King story that was cut from Creepshow 2, was included in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. The spin-off film was based on a TV series created by Romero in 1983. Given the timing, it should come as no surprise that Tales from the Darkside–also a horror-comedy anthology–existed because of Creepshow’s unexpected box office success. Tales from the Darkside: The Complete Series is available on DVD for $28.

Beyond the collectible editions, the first two Creepshow anthologies are available for around 10 bucks on standard Blu-ray. The Creepshow franchise technically has three film anthologies, but the 2006 straight-to-home-video Creepshow 3 is one that many fans want to forget exists at all (it’s quite bad). If you want to be reminded of it, a region-free Blu-ray edition of Creepshow 3 is $22 at Walmart. All three films are collected in a DVD box set for $25.

Another box set option is the King of Horror 8-Film Collection on Blu-ray or DVD. This one only includes the first Creepshow movie, but you’ll also get The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, the 1990 It miniseries, and more.

Creepshow Movies

All four seasons of Shudder’s anthology series are already available on Blu-ray and DVD. The first season is currently quite pricey on Blu-ray, but Seasons 2-4 are around $15 each.

Tales from the Darkside / Tales from the Crypt

If you like the horror-comedy anthology structure, you should definitely check out Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt.

Shudder’s series also led to the revival of Creepshow in print. Skybound and Image Comics have published 19 Creepshow comics since 2022, and 15 of them have been collected in paperback volumes. Each volume has five stories written and illustrated by a rotating group of big names in the industry, including Garth Ennis and Joe Hill. As a child, Hill appeared in the prologue and epilogue of the original Creepshow film, and over 40 years later he wrote an official Creepshow comic called Joe Hill’s Wolverton Station.

The first issue in Volume 4 will be published September 17. If you want to catch up on the anthology series, the first three volumes are available in trade paperback for $15 (or less) each. Volume 3 was published in April, and Volume 4‘s paperback edition is expected to release next March. Last holiday season, Image Comics published a hardcover Deluxe Edition compiling the first two volumes. Amazon has Creepshow Deluxe Edition for $21 (was $40), which is almost exactly the same price as the two paperback editions combined.

Joe Hill’s Creepshow comic and three others are one-shots that aren’t included in the collected volumes, but you can buy digital editions for Kindle for a couple bucks each. All 19 Creepshow comics released so far can be purchased as a digital bundle for $40. But Before reading the new series, we’d highly recommend Stephen King’s original graphic novel, which is available in paperback for only $15 (was $20) at Amazon.

Creepshow Graphic Novel & Comic Collections

Creepshow Digital Comics

More Creepshow Books

Creepshow 2 Limited Edition Special Features

• “Pinfall” comic booklet (adaptation of unpublished King story)
• Illustrated booklet with commentary on the film
• Collector’s sleeve with original artwork and reversible cover art
• Native 4K (2160p) restoration from original camera negative
• HDR: Dolby Vision and HDR10
• Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD surround sound, stereo, and lossless mono (original)
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary: Director Michael Gornick
• Screeplay for a Sequel – Interview with screenwriter George A. Romero
• Tales from the Creep – Interview with actor and makeup artist Tom Savini
• Poncho’s Last Ride – Interview with actor Daniel Beer
• The Road to Dover – Interview with actor Tom Wright
• Nightmares in Foam Rubber – Archive featurette and interviews on Creepshow 2 special effects
• My Friend Rick – Howard Berger talks about special effects mentor Rick Baker
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Image gallery
• Trailers and Commercials
• Original screenplay galleries

Creepshow Steelbook + Collector’s Edition Special Features

Disc 1: 4K Blu-ray

• Audio commentary with director George A. Romero and makeup effects creator Tom Savini
• Audio commentary with photography director Michael Gornick
• Audio commentary with composer/first assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain
• Interviews: Michael Gornick, John Amplas, Bruce Alan Miller, Darryl Ferucci
• Mondo Macabre – A look at Creepshow posters with Mondo co-founder Rob Jones and events planner Josh Curry
• Collecting Creepshow – Creepshow prop collector Dave Burian shows off his collection
• The Colors Of Creepshow – How Creepshow was restored in 4K
• Into The Mix – Sound re-recordist Chris Jenkins talks about remastering the audio
• Still Galleries – Behind-the-scenes pictures, movie posters, special effects makeup, color stills, and poster and lobby cards

Disc 2: 1080p Blu-ray

• Terror and the Three Rivers – Roundtable discussion on the making of Creepshow
• The Comic Book Look – Interview with costume designer Barbara Anderson
• Ripped From the Pages – Interview with animator Rick Catizone
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – Sean Clark tours original filming locations
• Tom Savini’s Behind-the-scenes footage
• Deleted scenes
• Theatrical trailers in English and Spanish
• TV and radio commercials
• Audio commentary with photography director Michael Gornick
• Audio commentary with composer/first assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain
• Audio interviews with original crew
• Mondo Macabre – A look at Creepshow posters with Mondo co-founder Rob Jones and events planner Josh Curry
• Collecting Creepshow – Creepshow prop collector Dave Burian shows off his collection
• The Colors Of Creepshow – How Creepshow was restored in 4K
• Into The Mix – Sound re-recordist Chris Jenkins talks about remastering the audio
• Still Galleries – Behind-the-scenes pictures, movie posters, special effects makeup, color stills, and poster and lobby cards

A major Helldivers 2 update is here, but somebody invited the wrong kind of bugs to the party. The Into the Unjust update takes the fight to Terminid strongholds, plunging Super Earth’s finest into cave systems guarded by acid-spitting bug dragons.

That’s all well and good, but a new wave of bugs (the software kind) is threatening to ruin the good times. Folks are reporting huge, inexplicable framerate drops before and during missions, others are crashing all over the place, and those new cave expeditions have introduced some annoying quirks, like a tendency to respawn on top of the level, where the only option is to fall to your death.

Hitman hitmakers Io Interactive have just screened some extensive footage of their James Bond adaptation, 007: First Light, during Sony’s latest State of Play livestream. As you might expect, it looks and sounds a lot like Hitman, but the whole “James Bond” thing is a definite pace-changer. Catch the whole video below, plus a hasty, opinionated summary from me.

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Magic: The Gathering is in a strange spot right now. With so many ‘Universes Beyond’ products, plus Secret Lairs for third-party IP mounting up, it’s becoming the Super Smash Bros. of card games, and that’s leading to some fun synergies.

As spotted by Wargamer, one Tyranid card from the Warhammer 40k Commander Decks has climbed some serious value in recent weeks thanks to a surprise team-up with, uh, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Winged Hive Tyrant, from the 40K Commander deck Tyranid Swarm, is a 4/4 with flying and haste, as well as text for ‘The Will of the Hive Mind’. It reads “Other creatures you control with counters on them have flying and haste.”

Magic: The Gathering Sonic the Hedgehog

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The best part? Each of these cards is really pretty affordable, despite the limited printing of Warhammer decks and Secret Lair drops.

At the time of writing, Winged Hive Tyrant has spiked on TCGPlayer, but only as far as $4-$5, while Sonic—despite being a Secret Lair card—is around $3 for the non-foil.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to see what happens when a Tyranid teams up with a hedgehog, you can find out for less than $10.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.