On Tuesday’s edition of her weekly podcast, “The Morning After,” Kelly Stafford talks about a very adult scene that played out in one of the suites at the game, which she attended with her daughters and nephews. In what has been described as a strip-club atmosphere, Blueface could be seen throwing dollar bills at several women in thongs who were dancing while bent over with their exposed rear ends in the air.
“This is our game-day experience.” Stafford said.
“What I am so mad about is this is supposed to be a family experience, coming to a football game. There were children in the suites next to them. … If you have that kind of stuff happening at games, adults are not gonna want to bring their kids.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford celebrates with wife Kelly and their four daughters after winning the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in February 2022.
(Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)
A SoFi Stadium spokesperson told The Times on Thursday that the stadium and the Rams do not condone the lewd behavior that took place inside Blueface’s suite and did not give permission for such activity to take place. When stadium officials were made aware of the situation, security was sent to the rapper’s suite, according to the spokesperson. Blueface and his companions were allowed to remain at the game and no further inappropriate activity occurred, the spokesperson said.
Blueface posted a video of the NSFW scene that took place in his suite on his Instagram Stories during the game, and Stafford said on Tuesday’s podcast that footage made it back to her and her young companions.
“My nephews, who are older, have Instagram. They were at the game, and they were like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Look what’s going on here.’ They found it,” Stafford said. “And my daughters are sitting right next to them. They were like, ‘Mommy, there’s a lot of butts here.’ I go, ‘Butts? What are you talking about?’ And then I got sent it and I was like, ‘Oh!’
“So my daughters saw that. Not OK! And not OK that my nephews saw it either.”
She added: “It’s just a little disappointing. It makes me not want to take my kids to the game, ‘cause I’m like, ‘What’s gonna happen next?’”
The Times reached out to Republic Records for a comment from Blueface and did not receive an immediate response. But the rapper does not seem to be bothered by any backlash for his antics.
He reposted two X (formerly Twitter) users who made negative comments about the footage of him and the dancers — one read, “First and Last Rams game attended for Blueface today,” and the other said, “Rapper BlueFace brought a bunch of females to the #Rams game today and then started throwing a lot of money all over them. With kids sitting right there [flushed-face emoji].”
Blueface had a lot going on at the game, as he also proposed to rapper Jaidyn Alexis, who was not one of the dancers and is the mother of two of his children. She said yes, and he posted a video from the happy occasion on Instagram.
Tuesday’s NBA season tipoff includes a historic moment for Highland Park native Che Flores.
The longtime basketball referee announced their status as nonbinary and transgender in an interview Sunday with men’s lifestyle magazine GQ. Flores is the league’s first such referee and is believed to be the first out nonbinary and transgender official in all major U.S. and Canadian sports.
Flores, who uses the pronouns they and them, was not available for comment Tuesday. But their former coach Jim Couch, who coached Flores at Burbank’s Bellarmine-Jefferson High School and Los Angeles Pierce College, said he wasn’t surprised Flores “climbed their way to the top.”
Flores “was a special player whose passion and effort led to [their] success,” Couch said. “That success is not a surprise.”
Flores, who grew up in Highland Park, is starting their second season in the NBA after working as a non-staff official during the 2021-22 season. They previously worked 10 seasons in the WNBA and nine seasons in the NBA G League, according to their National Basketball Referee Assn. profile. Flores worked both association’s finals series in 2022.
Previously, Flores spent 13 years officiating several NCAA leagues, including the Pac-12, Big 12 and Mountain West. They also worked the women’s Division I title game in 2021 and the Final Four in 2019.
Flores, 44, told GQ they weren’t seeking any spotlight with their announcement. Instead, they said, this is a way to provide visibility for queer youths.
“This is just to let young kids know that we can exist, we can be successful in all different ways,” Flores told the magazine. “For me, that is most important — to just be a face that somebody can be like, ‘Oh, OK, that person exists. I think I can do that.’ ”
A starting point guard on Bellarmine-Jefferson’s CIF Southern Section Division IV-A title team — the school’s first— Flores played with future WNBA player Jaclyn Johnson. Couch coached Flores at Bell-Jeff as the senior upped their postseason play, averaging 18 points, 8.4 assists and seven steals, topping their average of 11.9 points, 6.2 assists and 5.6 steals in the regular season.
After graduation, Flores moved on to Pierce College before transferring and playing two seasons at Cal State Northridge. There, Flores played 27 games over two years, finishing with 26 points, 18 rebounds, 19 assists and 10 steals.
Couch, who retired as Pierce College’s women’s basketball coach, last saw his former player in 2010 when they were officiating a community college women’s basketball game between Pierce and Ventura College, which the latter won by a few points, according to Couch.
“It was a game where I could have used a couple of calls, but [Flores] wasn’t having it,” Couch said with a laugh. “I think I had more calls against me.”
Flores’ announcement comes at a time when legislators and governing bodies worldwide have restricted or banned the participation of transgender athletes.
House Republicans passed a bill in April barring transgender females from participating on girls’ or women’s sports teams in federally supported schools and colleges.
World swimming’s governing body, FINA, also banned transgender women from competing in female events in 2022.
Flores told GQ that “being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut.” But since the announcement, Flores said they “can go through the world, and even my job, a lot more comfortably.”
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is having another banner year in 2023, with over 450 games now available for console players and over 400 for PC players.
The service has recently been bolstered with the addition of two huge Xbox Game Studios exclusives, Starfieldand Forza Motorsport, while Cities: Skylines 2 is a big-deal day one addition for the PC crowd. Atlus’ JRPG classics Persona 4 Goldenand Persona 3 Portable made their debut on Xbox consoles earlier in the year, and Tango Gameworks’ surprise release Hi-Fi Rushtold a cathartic rock ’n’ roll story with clever mechanics. Blockbuster titles are well represented with the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Hitman, cult favorites like Lies of P popped up, and Game Pass has continued its strong tradition of curating the best of the indie world with the likes of Cocoon. Even Grand Theft Auto 5 — and its extremely popular online mode — has returned to the service once more. That’s a lot of “free” video gaming to be done!
With the sheer size and the bounty of choice it offers, Game Pass can be a bit overwhelming to digest. But we’re here to help. Here are the 25 PC and Xbox Game Pass games that you should be checking out if you subscribe to Microsoft’s flagship service.
[Ed. note: This list was last updated on Oct. 24, 2023, adding Cocoon, Lies of P, and Party Animals. It will be updated as new games come to the service.]
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Image: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed Originshas always been good — but it was only in hindsight, three years after its release, that I began to consider it great.
It’s a phenomenal concoction of historical tourism, sci-fi storytelling, and open-ended combat. It also displays a confidence that the more recent Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can only partially match. Whereas the two most recent entries embrace the insecure ethos of “content” that has so defined the last decade of open-world games, Origins is content to leave vast swaths of its world empty and to let things burn slowly, in ways both narrative and explorative. Its map unfurls over deserts, mountains, oases, and sun-swept cities slowly being buried in sand, all while its two central figures (Bayek and Aya) navigate one of video games’ most compelling romances.
It’s not completely averse to daily challenges and cosmetic DLC packs. But it’s the rare open-world game that trusts my attention span. It understands that pastoral beauty and tragic storytelling, successfully interwoven, are worth more than any number of distractions its successors can throw at me. —Mike Mahardy
Assassin’s Creed Origins is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Image: Greg Lobanov/Finji
Chicory: A Colorful Tale tells the story of a small dog who accidentally inherits a magical paintbrush. As you travel around the black-and-white open world, you use your new paint powers to bring color back to the environments. Everything is your canvas, and you can color it all to both solve puzzles and customize the setting to your liking.
The gameplay of Chicory is cute and relatively simple, even as you unlock new powers. But the reason it made it to the No. 2 slot on Polygon’s 2021 Game of the Year list is the story it tells about the destructive powers of self-doubt — the way it cruelly infects even the greatest artists out there.
Chicory is a game that’s not about coloring in the lines or even making something beautiful. It’s about making something — painting something, in this case — that you are proud of, that makes you happy. And if that creation also brings joy to those around you? Hey, that’s great too. —Ryan Gilliam
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cities: Skylines
Image: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive
There’s a reason Cities: Skylines is often held up by literal city planners as the pinnacle of the genre: It doesn’t fall into the trap most city-builders do of treating all its resources and systems as mere data points on a list, gaming by way of a spreadsheet. Cities: Skylines is the real deal, letting you get into the weeds of urban micromanagement and understanding how and why metropolises morph in response to the needs of their citizens. (It’s also proof that planned cities are a crime against humanity.)
Cities: Skylines forces you to grapple with the beautiful, messy truth of what your citizens are: people. In other words, Eric Adams, please play Cities: Skylines! —Ari Notis
Cities Skylines is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Citizen Sleeper
Image: Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Citizen Sleeper is a hyper-stylized tabletop-like RPG set in space. In a capitalist society, you find yourself stuck on a space station. You’ll need to manage your time, energy, and relationships to survive the collapse of the corporatocracy and the anarchy that follows. You’ll roll dice and make decisions to get paid and help those around you.
Aside from its interesting setting, Citizen Sleeper features a vibrant cast of impactful characters, making each interaction memorable. It follows an excellent trend of table-top inspired games to encourage you to find your own objectives, and to revel in the story when things fall apart. It’s packed with tense decisions, great writing, and striking visuals. —Ryan Gilliam
Citizen Sleeper is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cocoon
Image: Geometric Interactive/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon
A mysteriously beautiful, exquisitely paced puzzle adventure from some of the minds behind Limbo and Inside, Cocoonshares those games’ wordless delivery and stark aesthetic. But it’s more abstract and contemplative, and perhaps even more involving. It’s a game of pocket universes, one inside another, inhabited by buglike techno-organic life-forms — including the player character, a scurrying little beetle-thing. The conceit is that you can step up out of one reality and move it around another on your back, in a gently glowing sphere that also interacts with the world around it, before diving back in — or swapping it for another entirely.
Like so many puzzle adventures, it’s essentially a game of locks and keys, plus the occasional ingenious boss fight. But like the very best of them — Fez, for example, or Portal — Cocoon plays games with perception and reality that rewire your brain in pleasantly tortuous ways. —Oli Welsh
Cocoon is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Crusader Kings 3
Image: Paradox Interactive via Polygon
Imagine if Succession unfolded between the years 867 and 1453, in the throne rooms, banquet halls, and torchlit back corridors of European castles. Monarchs rise and fall, small-time fiefdoms become bona fide kingdoms, and nonmarital children exact revenge after decades of being shunned. Crusader Kings 3is the story of the Roy family if we could pick any character, see them through to their death, and assume control of their orphaned heir — at which point, we can completely alter the course of the dynasty through petty gossip and underhanded murder attempts.
In Paradox Interactive’s vast suite of grand strategy games with complex systems that give way to thrilling emergent storytelling, none have made me cackle with glee quite as much as Crusader Kings 3. In one playthrough, I wed my firstborn son to the daughter of a powerful neighboring king, only for said daughter to declare a holy war on me one decade later. In another, I strong-armed one of my vassals into remaining loyal, shortly before knighting his cousin and sworn rival; I didn’t want to be a jerk, but my characters were jerks. I was just following the script down the path of least resistance.
Much like Succession, Crusader Kings 3 is at its best when tensions finally boil over between the emotionally stunted members of a dysfunctional family. Unlike Succession, though, Crusader Kings 3 never has to end. —Mike Mahardy
Crusader Kings 3 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Death’s Door
Image: Acid Nerve/Devolver Digital
Death’s Door is a cute little Soulslike game. You play as a raven who works as a kind of grim reaper for the bureaucratic arm of the afterlife. It’s your job to adventure in the world and claim the lives of a handful of bosses. The world of Death’s Door is charming, as are its characters, with excellent dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve. There are also giant enemies who will test both your skills and patience.
Still, Death’s Door has a friendly air around it. It wants you to succeed, and does a nice job easing you along with easy-to-read enemy and boss patterns. It’s a great, challenging Game Pass game to cut your teeth on before venturing into even more difficult titles. —Ryan Gilliam
Death’s Door is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Doom (2016)
Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
2016’s Doom builds off of one of the oldest franchises in gaming history with speed, acrobatics, and an absolutely killer soundtrack. Doomguy moves extremely quickly, swapping between a variety of guns, grenades, melee attacks, and a giant chainsaw to blow up demons off of Mars.
The game is bloody, metal as hell, and surprisingly funny. Doom makes you feel like a god, capable of clearing any hurdle the game could throw at you, and it doesn’t offer a single dull level in its lengthy campaign. —Ryan Gilliam
Doom (2016) is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Forza Horizon 5
Image: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon
Forza Horizon 5 is the latest racing game to land on Xbox and Game Pass. It’s a visual feast filled with some of the most realistic-looking cars you’ve ever seen. But anyone who loves any of these Forza games will tell you that the Horizon series is so much more than its graphics.
Horizon 5 takes place in a fictionalized Mexico, and gives you the freedom to drive around a massive map in whatever car you want. You can drive a nice sports car while off-roading, or drive a hummer off a massive ramp.
Forza Horizon 5 gives you the freedom and choice to drive how and where you want inside a legion of incredible cars. —Ryan Gilliam
Forza Horizon 5 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Image: Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most celebrated games of the last decade. In that time, it has appeared on three different generations of consoles, seen numerous graphical improvements, and gotten new modes, like its sweeping first-person alteration.
The main story focuses on three criminals from three very different backgrounds bumbling their way through numerous heists in the city of Los Santos — a fictional version of Southern California. And in order to tell the stories of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, the game implements a feature that allows you to swap between the protagonists at will, offering a new perspective on the city and letting you play multiple roles per heist.
Grand Theft Auto games usually live long past their time, but GTA 5 has remained especially relevant due to GTA Online, the sprawling MMO-like experience that Rockstar Games created inside the world of San Andreas. It’s the massive GTA 5 sandbox — plus a little extra — without any of the constraints found in the story mode.
The parts of GTA 5 that annoy — such as the more misguided aspects of its American commentary, or the occasional tailing mission — are distant memories compared to the chaos you can cause every five minutes. If futzing around a semi-realistic metropolitan area is something you really enjoy, it’s hard to imagine anything on this list entertaining you for as long as Grand Theft Auto 5 will. —Ryan Gilliam
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Image: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios
The Xbox brand might never have taken off without the Halo series, the first-person shooters that helped to popularize local competitive multiplayer on consoles before taking the party online after the launch of Xbox Live. The Master Chief Collection package includes multiple Halo games, all of which have been updated to keep them enjoyable for modern audiences.
But what’s so striking about the collection is how many ways there are to play. You can go through the campaigns by yourself. If you want to play with a friend but don’t want to compete, there is co-op, allowing you to share the games’ stories with a partner, either online or through split-screen play. If you do want to compete, you can do it locally against up to three other players on the same TV, or take things online to challenge the wider community.
These are some of the best first-person shooters ever released, and they’re worth revisiting and enjoying, no matter how you decide to play them. Sharing these games with my children through local co-op has been an amazing journey, and this package includes so many games, each of which is filled with different modes and options. It’s hard to imagine ever getting bored or uninstalling the collection once it’s on your hard drive.
This is a part of gaming history that continues to feel relevant, and very much alive. —Ben Kuchera
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Image: Blackbird Interactive/Focus Entertainment
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is another game poking fun at corporate greed and its general indifference toward the working class — seen in other excellent building games like Satisfactory. But Hardspace takes it further than just tongue-in-cheek poking by asking: What happens when the workers have had enough? Hardspace: Shipbreaker’s pro-union message is a delightful backdrop for an incredibly deep and stress-filled puzzle game.
As a Shipbreaker, your job is to break apart and recycle small spaceships. With your handy welding tools and futuristic gravity tethers, you’re able to carefully carve up these once-great hulks and repurpose them for the future. Sometimes that means throwing all the metal plates into the furnace to be melted down, and other times you’ll need to comb through the skeletons, grab salvageable items, and extract them still intact.
As you improve your skills, the game will test you with harder and larger ships. Suddenly, you’ll have to start worrying about the active nuclear reactors that are still in these vehicles, or pressurized cabins that explode if you open them in the wrong order.
And all of this danger circles Hardspace: Shipbreaker back to the conversation it starts at the very beginning. Hardspace is a game about focus, and how taking your eye off the ball for even a second can end in explosive death, or worse: a career spent toiling under forces that couldn’t care less about you. —Ryan Gilliam
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hi-Fi Rush
Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon
Rhythm games, for players who prefer to shoot, dodge, punch, and jump on their own time, can be a tough sell. But such is not the case with Hi-Fi Rush, the action game from Ghostwire: Tokyo developer Tango Gameworks. It provides an array of visual cues to help rhythmically challenged players, but crucially, it doesn’t require that protagonist Chai attacks according to the game’s metronome. Instead, its rhythm elements are an optional layer to interact with, offering score chasers something to aspire to. For everyone else, the game’s vibrant world, rock n’ roll storytelling, and entrancing traversal stand well enough on their own. It’s a cathartic triumph of a game.—Mike Mahardy
Hi-Fi Rush is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hitman World of Assassination
Image: IO Interactive
Hitman, Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 are some of the best sandbox puzzle games ever made. As Agent 47, you’ll climb buildings, sneak around parties, and murder spies and debutantes with all manner of tools. Hitman World of Assassination includes the campaigns from all three of the games in IO Interactive’s recent World of Assassination trilogy, giving you more than a dozen maps to play on. Just last week, it also added Freelancer mode, which functions like a roguelike as Agent 47 kills his way through four major crime syndicates, fleshing out his safehouse as he goes.
The Hitman series may be about violence and murder, but it manages to stay lighthearted and fun with its wild physics and silly scenarios. It’s the perfect series to goof around in if you feel like being stealthy, or just want to see what happens when you drop a giant chandelier on a crowd of snobby jerks. —Ryan Gilliam
Hitman Trilogy is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Lies of P
Image: Neowiz
One of 2023’s most delightful surprises, Lies of P is a Soulslike starring a noticeably hot Pinocchio, of all things, from relatively unheralded Korean developer Neowiz. It turns out to be one of the most original and interesting takes on the genre from outside FromSoftware — although more so in its strong storytelling and themes than its gameplay, which is heavily influenced by Sekiro and Bloodborne in its aggressive, rhythmic focus on parry-and-thrust.
As Pinocchio lies and battles his way around a crumbling Belle Epoque town that’s been overrun by its servant class of automatons, Lies of P’s grim tale bends to the player’s choices in ways that convince and intrigue. This works particularly well with Pinocchio’s dual nature as a half-human half-puppet who can be modified with gameplay-altering tools; Lies of P presents an illusory society that you can tinker with and change, just as it tries to manipulate you. —Oli Welsh
Lies of P is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Image: BioWare/Electronic Arts
The Mass Effect franchise was gigantic for the Xbox 360 era, but it didn’t transfer to future platforms well — purchasing and downloading the entire story became confusing and expensive when moving to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. But 2021’s Legendary Editionfinally made the entire Mass Effect trilogy accessible in one package.
The story follows Commander Shepard, a futuristic military hero, who’s tasked with gathering a collection of alien misfits for a variety of missions. Each game is wonderfully crafted, with stand-alone stories and breakout characters that don’t rely on the series’ wider narrative. As a trilogy, the games build on each other with meaningful choices that carry over to the next entry, giving weight to your choices.
The Legendary Edition is the way to experience Mass Effect, and it’s a must-play whether you’re on your first run to save the galaxy or your fifth. —Ryan Gilliam
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, but only for those that have Game Pass Ultimate.
Party Animals
Image: Recreate Games/Source Technology
Look, it’s not rocket science. Sometimes you just want some truly dumb, violent nonsense to play with your friends, and fulfilling that need is just as important for a well-rounded subscription service like Game Pass as serving up expansive RPGs and intriguing indies. Party Animals is a multiplayer party brawler about cute critters knocking the stuffing out of each other. That’s it. It’s not Smash Bros., and nor does it pretend to be; it’s more like an aggressively cute Gang Beasts, or a Fall Guys that’s just about fighting. It’s a little slow, but that just makes it easier to revel in its soft-bellied slapstick. Turn your brain off and enjoy. —Oli Welsh
Party Animals is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Pentiment
Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
Pentiment is the most immediately striking and recognizable game on this list. Inspired by the art of classic manuscripts, Pentiment sucks you into its beautifully designed version of 16th-century Europe, when books were still being written by hand in monasteries.
You play as Andreas, a young artist looking to make his fortune in an ever-changing world. And as you explore a small village and the grounds surrounding it, and go to work drawing magnificent pictures in custom manuscripts, you’ll meet new people and further flesh out Andreas’ personality and background.
The story will take you through murder, scandal, and a variety of other dramatic events in Andreas’ life. But the plot is secondary to the game’s incredible style and dialogue. —Ryan Gilliam
Pentiment is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Persona 4 Golden
Image: Atlus via Polygon
Persona 4 Golden follows a boy who goes to stay with his uncle and cousin in a small Japanese town. But almost immediately after his arrival, a serial killer starts murdering civilians, all of which have an unknown thread connecting them.
As with all Persona games, Persona 4 Golden allows you to play out your time in school, improving your character’s social stats and friendships before diving into dungeons to help further the plot. But the cast of characters in Persona 4 Golden is unlike any other in the series, offering some of the most memorable party members in any RPG.
Now on Xbox, Persona 4 Golden looks wonderful and plays beautifully. It’s a smart turn-based RPG that’s loaded with conversations to be had and mysteries to solve. —Ryan Gilliam
Persona 4 Golden is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
PowerWash Simulator
Image: FuturLab/Square Enix
PowerWash Simulator is the perfect game to sit on your couch and space off to. As the name suggests, you’re a professional power washer, and your job is to use your washing tools to obliterate grease, grime, and goop off of vehicles, buildings, and even entire playgrounds.
There are some minor upgrade and currency systems, but PowerWash Simulator mostly takes a minimalistic approach — you power wash stuff, no more, no less. Sure, you can take special jobs where you wash something wild like a Mars rover, but it’s really just about making things clean. And while it might sound like boring yard work, it’s actually quite meditative.
Blasting the black film off of a colorful slide provided me with one of the biggest serotonin bursts I’ve gotten from any piece of media in years. It’s a delightful, peaceful game that never fails to relax me after a long week. —Ryan Gilliam
PowerWash Simulator is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Slay the Spire
In Slay the Spire, I play as one of three unique characters, in order to fight my way through a randomly generated map filled with battles, treasure chests, and RPG-like encounters. Combat is similar to that of a turn-based RPG, but instead of selecting attacks and spells from a menu, I draw cards from each character’s specific pool of cards. These cards allow me to attack, defend, cast spells, or use special abilities. Each character has their own set of cards, making their play styles radically different.
I also learned to buck my expectations for the kinds of decks I should build. The key to deck-building games is constructing a thematic deck where each card complements the others. In card games like Magic: The Gathering, this is easy enough to do, since you do all your planning before a match — not in the moment, like in Slay the Spire. Since I’m given a random set of cards to build a deck from at the end of each encounter, I can’t go into any run with a certain deck-building goal in mind. I have to quickly decide on long-term deck designs based on what cards are available to me after a battle. The trick with Slay the Spire is to think more creatively and proactively than the typical card game requires. —Jeff Ramos
Slay the Spire is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
You start the game by inheriting a farm from your grandfather, and you then move to a sleepy town to take over the diminishing acres. For the next 10, 20, 50, 100-plus hours, you work to turn that farm into a modern utopia.
This is easily the most relaxing game on Game Pass. All you do is plant seeds, care for animals, mine some rocks, and befriend the villagers. There’s plenty of drama to be had — with the Wal-Mart-like JojaMart and an army of slimes trying to stop you from mining — but at the end of the day, you’re still going to pass out in your farmhouse and get ready to plant more strawberries the next morning. —Ryan Gilliam
Stardew Valley is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Image: Tribute Games/Dotemu
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revengeis already a classic Turtles brawler. If you could’ve overheard a bunch of kids talking about their dream TMNT game while playing the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet at a local pizza bar in 1989, or Turtles in Time in 1991, this is the Turtles game they’d be imagining.
But over 30 years later, Shredder’s Revenge implements some features that distinguish it from the days of the coin operated arcade. There’s a world map, side-quests, new heroes, experience points, and online matchmaking that help modernize the throwback trappings. Shredder’s Revenge manages to balance itself nicely between the world of retro and revamp.
With only 16 “episodes,” it’s the perfect Game Pass game to jump into with some pals at a sleepover — as long as there’s pizza, of course. —Ryan Gilliam
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks
The Elder Scrolls 5, better known as just Skyrim, is a classic. And while you can play it on almost any console or device known to humankind at this point, it’s still worth playing on Game Pass if you’ve never given it a chance, or are just craving another journey in its sprawling world.
Like most Bethesda RPGs, Skyrim is a first-person game with a giant, living world. There are dungeons to crawl, stories to uncover, and a variety of guilds to join. But you can also go off the beaten path and discover your own fun in Skyrim — it rewards you for being curious. It’s the kind of Game Pass game that you can play for hundreds of hours and never get bored. —Ryan Gilliam
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The only control you have over the game is what character you select, what items you choose during your run, and where your character moves. Depending on your weapons of choice, knives, whips, flames, magic bolts, bibles, or holy water fly out of your character in every direction, decimating hordes or pixelated movie monsters, earning you cash for your next adventure.
Though extremely simple on its face, Vampire Survivors is one of the best games of 2022. It perfectly walks the line between peaceful and stressful, requiring the perfect amount of attention for success. It also facilitates growth through skill and through roguelite progression, ensuring that each run is a bit different from your last. —Ryan Gilliam
Vampire Survivors is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Various campaigns are underway offering opportunities to be whitelisted for the coming PFP sales day
ROAD TOWN, Virgin Islands (British), August 10, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– AKIVERSE INC. has announced the commencement of sales of the first batch of 1,111 NFTs on August 24 at 6:00 PM JST, as part of our 5,555 NFT PFP (Profile-Picture) project on the Web3 gaming platform “AKIVERSE.” Preceding the PFP sales, various campaigns will be held offering a chance to win a place on the PFP whitelist (granting special tickets, guaranteed purchase rights, priority purchase rights).
About the AKIVERSE PFP Project The AKIVERSE PFP project comprises a total collection of 5,555 NFTs.
These represent gamers in the virtual world of AKIVERSE, portraying the players deeply immersed in the games. Designed to appeal not just to players of AKIVERSE but gamers worldwide, these profile pictures are set to become key items that enhance and extend the global gaming community.
Besides being used as NFT icons, PFPs will grant their holders numerous benefits like integration with the games and tokens in the AKIVERSE platform, access to exclusive holder events, and more. Additionally, each piece of art, infused with high-end 3D graphics and diverse traits like hairstyles, eyes, outfits, and accessories, holds its own value as an NFT art collectible.
Details of the AKIVERSE PFP Sale Batch 1 In this first batch of sale, 1,111 out of the total 5,555 NFT collection will be available for purchase starting from August 24 at 6:00 PM (UTC +9). These NFTs will be sold in a “reveal-style” sale, with traits and rarity being completely random.
Overview of the Batch 1 sale ・Total supply for this sale: 1,111 ・Purchase Limit: Unlimited ・Sales Schedule and Pricing: – Presale ① – Date: August 24 (Thu) from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Those with guaranteed purchase rights (first-come-first-served basis)
– Presale ② – Date: August 24 (Thu) from 10:00 PM to 12:00 AM (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Those with priority purchase rights (first-come-first-served basis)
– Public Sale – Date: August 25 (Fri) from 8:00 PM onwards (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Open to all (first-come-first-served basis)
For more details, check the PFP official website. Details about the subsequent batch of sales will be provided when finalized.
Your Last Chance to Win a Whitelist (Special Ticket, Guaranteed Purchase Right, Priority Purchase Right) for the PFP
PFP By AKIVERSE Whitelist Campaign【VER3.0】 ・Application period: August 10, 4:00 PM (UTC+9) to August 20, 11:59 PM (UTC+9). ・Winners: 333 spots. ・Where to apply: campaign page.
Participate in the AKIVERSE SPARK Quest ~Win PFP Special Tickets and More~ For more details on the gaming event, please check here.
First PV depicting the world view of the virtual world “AKIVERSE”.
ROAD TOWN, Virgin Islands (British), June 27, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– AKIVERSE INC. announces the partial release of sales information regarding the PFP (Profile-Picture) project on its Web3 x gaming platform, AKIVERSE. Additionally, a campaign to win priority purchase rights for PFPs will be held prior to the start of PFP sales. Furthermore, a PV depicting the world view of the virtual world “AKIVERSE” has been released for the first time.
AKIVERSE Player PFP Sales Overview
-What is AKIVERSE Player PFP AKIVERSE is a world hidden away in darkness. Players are the only ones able to illuminate the world and eliminate this darkness, by honing their gaming skills continuously. We now present PFPs, which is a generative NFT that proves the player’s contribution towards saving AKIVERSE.
-Holder benefits of PFP This PFP has strong utility within AKIVERSE, such as being used as an NFT icon for SNS on the ETH chain, linking with games and tokens on the AKIVERSE platform, and participating in holder-exclusive events. Furthermore, we offer an attractive “in-game utility” update that is tailored to the beta version release of AKIVERSE. In the future, we will update the utility of PFP to maintain and improve its mid-to-long-term value, along with the enthusiasm of the players for the game.
For more information about PFP, please visit the official website. Also, we will mainly announce the latest information on PFP through the AKIVERSE official Twitter account.
Win a priority purchase right for PFP. IVS KYOTO exhibition commemorative campaign is underway. As a commemoration of the “IVS Crypto 2023 KYOTO” exhibition, which starts today, on June 28 (Wed.), a campaign is underway to win a priority purchase right for PFP.
-Campaign details ・Number of winners: 333 pieces ・Application period: June 28 (Wed.) 10:00 (UTC+9) to July 5 (Fri) 23:59 (UTC+9) ・How to apply: Please apply from the PFP official website.
A PV that depicts the virtual world “AKIVERSE” is released for the first time. Today (June 28, 2023) we at AKIVERSE are delighted to have released a promotional video that displays the virtual magic of AKIVERSE. Gamers can imagine themselves as saviors in AKIVERSE, deeply immersed in the world and creating SPARKs with their gaming powers.
The city-building genre is absolutely having a moment right now, whether at the big end of the market (Cities Skylines 2) or, more popularly, the smaller end (just look at Steam’s sales charts on any day of the week). Sliding effortlessly into this latter category is Terrascape, one of my favourite examples of the genre in years.
LeVar And Mica Burton Tell Us About The Games They Love
Terrascape is a game set on a hex-based world, where you’re asked to place medieval-era buildings on the most optimal piece of land possible. For buildings that harvest resources, like woodcutters or hunter’s lodges, that means getting them as close to as many trees or wild animals as possible, and for more advanced structures that means placing them next to other buildings. The more optimal your position, based on the number of resources and adjacent structures, the bigger the score you get.
You don’t just get to build anything though, this is a very board game-like experience where you have to choose from decks based on major categories (fishing, village, farming, etc) and then are given a hand of cards, each card able to be played to drop a building on the map. Beginning with just a handful, over the course of a game you’ll unlock more cards for a deck, then more decks with new buildings.
Screenshot: Terrascape
If this is starting to sound familiar, that’s because it is. Dorfromantik did a lot of this. As did Islanders. I loved both of those games, and I love Terrascape for the same reasons, because it takes the essence of a city-builder, breaks it down into the simplest means of implementing it possible, then makes the whole thing incredibly relaxing.
There are objectives, whether you’re playing the game’s specific challenge maps (which gives you city-building optimisation puzzles to complete) or its more enjoyable sandbox mode (which just lets you loose and gives you bonus objectives to score points on), but they never feel rushed. It’s beautiful to look at, there are no time limits and the whole thing is just incredibly chill to be around, as you drop a little farm here, and oh look, a town square there, isn’t that lovely.
The way each hex’s art bleeds into the next, and the little pop every time you place a building makes the whole experience hugely satisfying. I’ve spent the last week firing this up whenever I’ve had some downtime and, rather than trying to complete any goals or objectives, have just scrolled around the map painting a town into being, like a 14th-century Bob Ross. Bobbe Rosse.
If spending your entire time in a zen-like state doesn’t appeal, though, you can still game this thing if you want (and will need to to complete some of the tougher/bigger maps). The game’s scoring system stacks, rather than remaining consistent, so if you drop a hunter’s lodge early on and score a ton of points from the nearby wildlife, you don’t lose those points if you later build a medieval village on top of it all. This makes every map a fascinating exercise in forward-planning, as you start out thinking about trees and fish and deer, before advancing through the decks and having to shift gear and start thinking about large manor houses and taverns instead.
Terrascape is still in early access on Steam, and is available now.
I’ve reviewed a lot of board game adaptations of video games on this website, and with good reason: it’s the most intimate intersection of our board game and video game coverage. In nearly every case, the key consideration has been how does the board game feel compared to the original. What kind of concessions have been made, how does it differ, does it match the video game in terms of vibes, if not exact mechanics.
Frostpunk is different. It’s a hulking huge board game that seeks, in almost every meaningful way, not to adapt the video game to the tabletop, but to bring it wholesale, warts and all. It’s an ambitious undertaking if nothing else, but I’m also not quite sure if it’s worth all the effort.
And it is an effort. When I went to play the game for the first time I was at least 30 minutes into setting it up when I started to get the sweats. I had spent half an hour painstakingly punching cards, reading the manual and placing tokens on the table and it looked like I’d barely begun. Was I doing something wrong? Was I just a very slow guy? After reading this Dicebreaker story called “I spent an hour failing to set up a board game and it made me question everything” it turns out no, thankfully I’m fine, it’s the game that’s slow.
Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku
Frostpunk is one of the most complex board games I have ever played, let alone set up (and that’s not just me talking, it has a 4.32/5 “weight” rating on BoardGameGeek, which is very high). There are a seemingly endless array of tokens, multiple decks of cards that look the same but aren’t and loads of different rules that bend and sway for each player. Most maddeningly, there are eight boards you have to keep track of.
Eight. Boards. That’s too many boards.
If you’re wondering why the board game version of a (relatively) straightforward city-builder needs to be so complicated, it’s because this edition of the game, for whatever reason, didn’t want to vaguely recreate the spirit of playing Frostpunk. It wants to recreate the whole damn thing, substituting tabletop components for mouse clicks. Nearly everything you can do in the video game, from the politics to the resource gathering to the quest expeditions to city-building is here, and it works much the same way it does on PC.
It is, in many ways, a staggering achievement. Once you (eventually) get on top of the game’s vast array of components, boards and rules it really does feel like you’re playing Frostpunk, the pressures and nagging responsibilities of the digital wasteland transplanted perfectly to the physical world. Indeed some of those pressures are even better here, because Frostpunk is a co-op game, meaning there can be 2-4 of you (there’s also a singleplayer mode, but I didn’t play that) taking on different jobs within the city, working together while at the same time arguing over every decision. If you thought the social and political stuff was cool in the video game, it’s great here since you’re essentially acting out a lot of those debates in the flesh.
Yet in other ways it all feels a bit pointless? The board game cuts so close to the video game’s cloth that at times you wonder why you’re bothering at all, since the video game does all this for you, without the arduous setup time or constant consultation with the rules. Sure, that’s a more solitary experience, but there’s a point where that trade-off can be worth it, and for many people—myself included—that point can come when you’re hours into a single game and find you’re not even close to finishing it.
Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku
At least some of that setup is worth it. The game ships with an enormous plastic recreation of The Generator, which doesn’t just look amazing on the middle of the table but has actual gameplay use as well, since players need to drop coal into it almost every turn as they play, an act that rivals Deep Rock Galactic’s robot mining as one of the most satisfying physical actions in recent board game history.
And, in a very rare occurrence for these reviews, I want to give a shout out to the game’s documentation. For whatever reason most board game rulebooks in 2023 still suck, but Frostpunk, despite the game’s complexity and scale, never let us down.
There’s a very specific type of person out there for this game. Someone who is into Frostpunk but gets lonely playing it, or someone who has never played the video game but is intrigued by the density and politics on offer here. Sadly I was neither of those people, I found its setup time and length just too much, but like I’ve said I can at least appreciate the exhaustive design effort that went into the approach taken here, if nothing else.
PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla., February 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– The Heroines are one of the first professional women’s paintball teams in the world and in their new two-part documentary premiering Super Bowl Sunday on YouTube, they are taking viewers into a new paintball universe. The game of paintball has long been dominated by men. Now, women are on a mission to inspire and empower young female athletes to change that.
In paintball, players can be any age, any skill or any gender to compete. Traditionally women have competed on the same field on co-ed teams with men. It’s one of the things that makes this sport unique. The problem? No one ever really knew the women were there, until now.
In 2021, six paintball field and team owners decided it was time for paintball to have a league that offered women and girls a place to compete in a sport they loved while becoming visible mentors and role models to other female athletes. At the largest event of the season, NXL World Cup – an exhibition match between two all-star women line-ups, would solidify the birth of a new all-women’s professional league: The WNXL.
The league made its debut in 2022 and the Original 6 teams competed at three events held across the country. One of these original six teams are The Heroines. Based in Port St. Lucie Florida, the team is made up of girls and women ages 16-32 from all over the country who have competed all over the world, some representing the USA selected to Team USA Paintball. Their coach is a world championship 15-year professional player veteran.
“The Heroines: The Documentary” shines a light on some of the world’s top female paintball players while magnifying their hard work and dedication to a sport that is often overlooked by many. Take a journey into the world of Women’s Professional Paintball and follow The Heroines as they return one year later hoping to secure a win and a season championship in the place it all started, the biggest stage in the game: World Cup.
This action packed series will give fans an inside look at the intensity and passion of these female athletes as they battle for top honors and fight to make history. Witness firsthand the effort, dedication and passion that these incredible women put into their game. From grueling practices, tough losses and thrilling tournament wins, The Heroines will inspire more women to become involved in paintball and challenge traditional gender roles within sports. With determination and grit, this female team is leading a revolution for female athletes everywhere.
If you’re looking for the ultimate adrenaline rush this will check the box.
Follow The Heroines on YouTube, be inspired, find a field, get in the game!
Things haven’t been going great for Xbox recently. Microsoft is facing stiff resistance in its attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. It released hardly any big exclusive blockbusters last year. And it just cut over 10,000 jobs last week, including many senior developers at Halo Infinite studio 343 Industries. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer tried to remain upbeat and do damage control on each of these points and more in a new interview with IGN.
“Every year is critical,” he said. “I don’t find this year to be more or less critical. I feel good about our momentum. Obviously, we’re going through some adjustments right now that are painful, but I think necessary, but it’s really to set us up and the teams for long-term success.”
This week captured both the peril and promise facing Xbox right now. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a drop in net-income of 12 percent for the most recent fiscal quarter compared to the prior year. Xbox gaming hardware and software were down by similar percentages, and Microsoft said nothing about how many new subscribers its Game Pass service had gained since it crossed the 25 million mark exactly a year ago.
Then on Wednesday Microsoft provided a sleek and streamlined look at its upcoming games in a Developer Direct livestream copied right from the Nintendo playbook. Forza Motorsport was seemingly quietly delayed to the second half of the year, but looked like a beautiful and impressive racing sim showpiece. Arkane’s co-op sandbox vampire shooter Redfall got a May 2 release date. Real-time strategy spin-off Minecraft Legends will hit in April. And to cap things off Tango Gameworks, maker of The Evil Within, shadow-dropped Hi-Fi Rush on Game Pass, a colorful rhythm-action game from left field that’s already become the first undisputed gaming hit of 2023.
Vivid colors and deep blacks It’s Oscar season which means it’s time to binge all the nominations before the big day. Why not enjoy these pieces of art on a new TV from our friends at Samsung?
“2022 was too light on games,” Spencer confessed in his IGN interview. 2023 shouldn’t be thanks to Redfall and Starfield, Bethesda’s much-anticipated answer to the question, “What if Skyrim but space?” But both of those games were technically supposed to come out last year. Meanwhile, Hi-Fi Rush, like Obsidian’s Pentiment before it, is shaping up to be a critically acclaimed Game Pass release that still might be too small to move the needle on Xbox’s larger fortunes.
Spencer remained vague when asked how successful these games were or their impact on Game Pass, whose growth has reportedly stalled on console. “I think that the creative diversity expands for us when we have different ways for people to kind of pay for the games that they’re playing, and the subscription definitely helps there,” he said.
Hi-Fi Rush, Redfall, Starfield, and a new The Elder Scrolls Online expansion due out in June are also all from Bethesda, which Microsoft finished acquiring in 2021. The older Microsoft first-party game studios have either remained relatively quiet in recent years while working on their next big projects, or, in the case of 343 Industries, were recently hit with a surprising number of layoffs.
Following news of the cuts last week, rumors and speculation began to swirl that 343 Industries—which shipped a well-received Halo Infinite single-player campaign in 2021, but struggled with seasonal updates for the multiplayer component in the months since—was being benched. The studio put out a brief statement over the weekend saying Halo was here to stay and that it would continue developing it.
Image: Bethesda / Microsoft
Spencer doubled down on that in his interview with IGN, but provided little insight into the reasoning behind the layoffs or what its plans were for the franchise moving forward. “What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build,” he said. “And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.”
Where Halo Infinite’s previously touted “10-year” plan fits into that, however, remains unclear. “They’ve got some other things, some rumored, some announced, that they’ll be working on,” Spencer said. And on the future of the series as a whole he simply said, “I expect that we’ll be continuing to support and grow Halo for as long as the Xbox is a platform for people to play.” It’s hard to imagine Nintendo talking about Mario with a similar-sounding lack of conviction.
It’s possible Microsoft’s continued struggles with some of its internal projects is partly why it’s so focused on looking outside the company for help. Currently that means trying to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion and fighting off an antitrust lawsuit by the Federal trade Commission in the process. Microsoft had originally promised the deal to get Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush would be wrapped up before the end of summer 2023. That deadline’s coming up quickly, even as the company continues offering compromises, like reportedly giving Sony the option to continue paying to have Activision’s games on its rival Game Pass subscription service, PS Plus.
Spencer told IGN he remains bullish on closing the deal, despite claiming to have known nothing about the logistics of doing so when he started a year ago. “Given a year ago, for me, I didn’t know anything about the process of doing an acquisition like this,” he said. “The fact that I have more insight, more knowledge about what it means to work with the different regulatory boards, I’m more confident now than I was a year ago, simply based on the information I have and the discussions that we’ve been having.”
There’s only one way to enjoy all that white stuff: Embrace the snow! Here are five outdoor family ideas that are loads of fun and educational too.
1. Fill up spray bottles with water and food coloring. Use them to draw in the snow or to add some detail and colour to your snowmen or snow forts.
2. Snow tic tac toe. Kids love the challenge of this simple tried-and-true game, and it’s even more fun when you play it in the snow.
3. Glow sticks. Put them under the snow for some light up fun. This is a great witching hour activity to play after the sun goes down. Get a game of hide-and-go-seek with the glowsticks and see where you can discreetly tuck them – and how many you can find.
4. Ice discoveries. This takes a bit of prepwork but it’s super easy to do: freeze small toys in ice and then arm your kids with protective eyewear and a small hammer to see who can “discover” what;s frozen in the ice.
5. Outdoor science lab. Kids can get super messy as long as it’s outside. Set up a few plastic jars or bottles with coloured water or vinegar, and give them a bowl of baking soda. You never know what they’ll “invent”!
Have fun!
Melany xx
Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.
Over the course of the last two years we have all been spending more time indoors with our family. One question that I’ve seen asked over and over again in social media parent groups is “can anyone recommend a family friendly board game?”. I get it, there’s only so much tv you can watch! My children and husband love board games, whereas I’d rather be reading, so it’s always great when we can find a game that appeals to all of us. I decided to reach out to Funko to do just that; find board games that appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. Here are five games (plus an expansion) that are guaranteed to be fun for the whole family.
Something Wild! (Ages 6+)- This is a card game that comes with a miniature Funko Pop character. There’s a huge variety of Something Wild games with different themes, from Disney princesses, to Star Wars and Marvel. The game is very straight forward which makes it easy for younger players and fun for older kids as well. You can also combine the sets to expand your game play. I can’t wait to bring a few sets along with us when we go camping this summer.
Disney Pixar Toy Story Talent Show (Ages 6+) – Stuck inside on a rainy day with kids who have boundless energy? Then this is the perfect game to have on hand. The talent tricks that you can have to carry out are easy enough that younger children won’t get frustrated but still challenging enough that older kids will have fun. I also love that you collect carnival like tickets, making it reminiscent of being at a country fair.
Disney Mickey and the Beanstalk (Ages 4+) – Out of all the games we tried out I think this one surprised us the most. The objective is easy enough, collect all the food items without the giant seeing you. My favourite thing about this game is that it’s a cooperative game. Everyone has to work together as a team to defeat the giant. It took us three rounds to finally win, but after every defeat there were no tears from the children, instead they would scream ‘again!’, determined to win a round.
Disney Haunted Mansion – Call of the Spirits: Magic Kingdom Park Edition (Ages 9+) – Based on the beloved Disney parks ride, The Haunted Mansion, this spooky strategic game is hauntingly fun. The game set up and rules are a little more involved than the previous games that I’ve mentioned, however once it gets going it’s a lot of fun. One fun aspect of the game is the duel option! My youngest child used the duel often as his strategy and in the end he ended up winning. I recommend watching the quick instructional video on Funko Games website before playing.
Funkoverse: Marvel 100 4-Pack (Ages 10+) – Calling all Marvel fans! If you love everything Marvel then you’ll love Funkoverse: Marvel 100 4-Pack. Before diving into this game I do advise taking a moment to thoroughly read the instructions and watch the gameplay video on Funko Game’s website. Once the game gets rolling it’s a lot of fun. This game is played in teams so it has the cooperative aspect that I love, along with a good competition. The age rating stands true and it can be a little more complicated for younger players.
Funkoverse: Marvel 101 Expansion (Ages 10+) – If like me you don’t like the idea of playing against your favourite super heroes, then this expansion is perfect for you! Heroes unite and go head-to-head against the mighty Titan Thanos! This expansion pack must be combined with any Funkoverse 2-pack or 4-pack and is a perfect addition to your Funkoverse game play. It’s always fun to be part of team of heroes in defeating one of the greatest villains ever!
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book.
If you’re reading this ahead of buying someone a new Xbox, or you already have and are getting ready to wrap it, stop! I highly recommend setting it up ahead of time, completing most of the above suggestions before you give the shiny new console to its intended recipient—especially if that recipient is a kid who will likely want to play games, not wade through menus and wait for updates to install. So at the very least, update the console and install a few games, so they can open it up, plug it in, and start playing right away!
A new console is a great gift, but an even better gift is a new console filled with games that are already set up and ready to play.
Once you’ve got your Xbox all hooked up, installed some fun new games, got your controller updated, and your TV settings sorted, it’s time to stop reading this article and go play some video games. Well, unless you wanna dig around the comments first, as I assume a few readers might have some extra tips and tricks of their own. Either way, enjoy your new Xbox!
The best part about Christmas is time spent with family. What better way to spend quality time than to break out a board game, card game or puzzle. If you’re looking for a fun Christmas themed game, we’ve got you covered.
Elf: Journey From the North Pole(Ages 8+) – The movie Elf is a big hit in our house and it’s one that we save to watch until right before Christmas. I was excited to try out the game and was not disappointed. The object is straightforward; create a path to get Buddy the Elf to New York City. Players each have three landmarks that they need to secretly get him to along the way to score the most points. I played this game with my nine year old and it was fun to watch him strategize with the path cards. Playing this game will definitely become a holiday tradition. (Funko)
Pop! Elf Puzzle– Speaking of the movie Elf, Funko Games has now ventured into the world of puzzles and this Elf puzzle is the perfect accompaniment to the board game. With 500 pieces, it’s an easy, relaxing puzzled to piece together.
Making Christmas Card Game(Ages 6+)- I had debated whether to include this game in my Halloween roundup, or my Christmas one because of that age-old question of whether The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween or Christmas movie. The object of this card game is to put together as many toys for Jack Skellington to deliver as you can. The player who matches the most toys win. It’s an easy, straight forward game that my kids had a blast playing. (Funko)
Stitch Merry Mischief Card Game(Ages 5+) – That Stitch, from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, is always up to no good. The object is simple, try to save as many presents as possible before Stitch unwraps them all. In each round players choose up to 3 presents to sneak past Stitch, then roll the dice to find out which will be unwrapped/saved and the player with the most saved presents wins. This game all comes down to the luck of the dice. It’s a fun, quick game that’s loads of fun. (Funko)
Something Wild! Baby Groot Edition(Ages 6+) – Whether this is your first Something Wild! game or another to add to your collection, the Baby Groot is a cute as they get. We love this game and it’s fantastic that you can combine it with other Something Wild games. I love that all the Marvel card characters are dressed for the holidays in this edition. (Funko)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles The Game(Ages 12+) – This game will take you on a journey, as your goal is to make it to Chicago without going up in flames. I love cooperative games, so this one was a winner for me. It’s also a 2 player game, which is always great to have on hand for date nights. Fans of the movie will absolutely love playing this game. (Funko)
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram.
Whether you’re looking for a great board game for a big kid in your life, or a kid at heart game lover, we’ve got some excellent suggestions. Here are some great games for teenagers and adults alike.
Ted Lasso Party Game(Ages 10+) – I’m starting with this game because out of all the games I’ve played this year, this is hands down my absolute favourite. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t watched the show (though it certainly enhances the experience) as this is not a trivia game. The goal of this cooperative game is to boost enough morale to win. It embodies Coach Lasso’s spirit so much, that even if you lose a game or two, you still end with a smile on your face. (Funko Games)
Goonies: Never Say Die(Ages 12+) – Fans of the 80’s movie classic, The Goonies, will love this game. The game pieces themselves are really well made and it’s clear that the game makers are big fans as evidenced in the attention to details. The gameplay is similar to Dungeons and Dragons in that one player is the Goondocks Master, while the others play characters from the movie. There are nine adventures to embark on, making this a longer game, which is perfect over the holiday break. (Funko Games)
Funkoverse Squid Game and Expansion Pack(17+) – As you can see by the age rating, this game, just like the Netflix hit show that it’s based on, is geared towards an older audience. If you’ve played any other Funkoverse games before you’ll know what to expect. If you haven’t then I would plan to take my time reading and understanding the instructions. Once you understand how the game works however, it’s a very fun game. Though it’s for 2-4 players, we’ve found that Funkoverse games are best enjoyed as 4 players. As a bonus, this game can be combined with other Funkoverse games. I also recommend buying the expansion pack as it gives you the option of extra characters and enhances the gaming experience. (Funko Games)
Seinfeld: The Party Game About Nothing(Ages 14+) – This is the perfect game for any Seinfeld fan. I must admit that Seinfeld is the show that I’ve binged the most over the years. Players break off into two teams and are tasked with either answering trivia or acting out clues, yada yada yada. Along with the fun trivia, the game is complete with a fishing rod and marble rye. This is a fun and entertaining game that any fan of the show will love. (Funko Games)
Parks an Recreation Party Game(14+) – Citizens of Pawnee, it’s time to get to work! In this game, players must complete projects in the town of Pawnee. You can try to complete projects on your own, or recruit the help of other players. As you complete your objectives you collect waffle points. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. Fans of the show Parks and Recreation will love all the shows details in this fun game. There’s a good chance that when you’re done playing, you’ll want to whip up a batch of waffles. (Funko Games)
Schitt’s Creek Love That Journey Party Game(14+) – If you love Schitt’s Creek, you’ll love this game. The game is played with 3-8 players, but definitely best enjoyed with more rather than less. On their turn a player will choose a card and answer the question, keeping their answer to themselves. The other players must then guess how the player answered the question, and if you guess right you move ahead. The first player to the finish wins. This is a really fun game that’s guaranteed to add a lot of laughter to your party. (Funko Games)
Fast & Furious: Highway Heist(Ages 12+) – Fans of this action packed movie series will love the equally action packed board game. This is a scenario based cooperative game that includes three different scenarios inspired by the movies. The goal of the game is to work together to complete the job. I like that you can choose which difficulty level to play at, so you can work your way up to the hardest level each time you play. Players can play as their favourite characters from the movie, and just like the movies, expect some car crashes along the way. This is a fun game that takes about an hour to play. (Funko Games)
ESPN Trivia Night(Ages 10+) – Calling all sports fans! If you think you know everything there is to know about all the big sports, then this is the game for you. The game is exactly what the title implies, it’s a sports trivia game. Designed for 2-10 players, you divide into two teams and the first team to score four points in all the categories wins. If you’re like me and don’t know much about sports other than maybe hockey, but don’t worry! There’s a very fun instant replay challenge where a player tries to score a point using their physical skills (that part of the game is my favourite). (Funko Games)
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram.
Academy Award winner Al Pacino may have opened the 2022 Game Awards, a night of industry recognition and expensive marketing for the biggest games around, but it was a new type of internet celebrity who closed it out. “I want to nominate this award to my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton,” said a young kid with long hair who appeared onstage suddenly after Elden Ring was crowned Game of the Year. He was wearing an ill-fitting coat, sneaking up on stage behind the the Elden Ring development team.
Security followed, and chaos ensued online as everyone tried to figure out what the hell had just happened during host Geoff Keighley’s otherwise heavily orchestrated three-hour event. But this was far from the first time the young man, whose name Kotaku believes to be Matan Even, had sprung to brief internet fame through internet-pilled trolling, even if it might have been his weirdest.
After the ceremony finished, Keighley tweeted that the “individual who interrupted” the event had been arrested. Five hours later, however, Even was already tweeting. “Today there is a lot of talk, and speculation,” he wrote. “More information will be released on all fronts sooner than later.”
When asked about what transpired after the incident, the LAPD media relations office contradicted Keighley’s account, saying a report had been taken but no arrest was made. When asked to square that, a spokesperson for The Game Awards provided a more detailed account.
G/O Media may get a commission
They said Even was taken to a “secure area” inside the Microsoft Theater by TGA security staff where he was then questioned by venue security as well as “TGA-hired onsite LAPD officers.” They said he was then taken into custody and transported to a local police station for booking by the TGA-hired LAPD officers in their patrol vehicle. When asked about that version of events, a representative from the LAPD would only confirm that the individual had been transported to a station. Since no arrest was made, it’s unclear how long he was held for questioning.
While this may be the first time Even risked arrest, it was far from his first publicity stunt. Before stealthing his way on stage at one of the gaming industry’s biggest events of the year in front of an audience of over a million people, Even crashed a BlizzCon panel, went viral for pranking the L.A. Clippers fan cam, and appeared on right-wing conspiracy show Infowars at least twice.
The Clippers stunt came in October 2019. Amid the Hong Kong protests, Even momentarily appeared on the fan cam at the team’s home stadium, only to immediately hold up a black t-shirt that read, “Fight for Freedom Stand with Hong Kong.” China had blacklisted the Houston Rockets after their general manager tweeted out a picture of the same t-shirt just a couple of weeks earlier.
The next month, Even interrupted a BlizzCon 2019 panel with a similar message in support of the Hong Kong protests. Blizzard had suspended Overwatchpro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai the prior month for doing the same, and along with the NBA and other companies, came under fire at the time for its failure to stand up for Hong Kong’s democratic protesters.
As Motherboard points out, this made Even a ripe target to be co-opted by right-wing political actors who saw the opportunity to attack seeming liberal hypocrisy on the issue. But Even was also apparently already a big fan of at least one of Infowars’ hosts, Owen Shroyer. He said as much in a 2019 appearance, calling Shroyer his “favorite person on Infowars,” while in a second appearance in 2020 Shroyer called Even “one of the young stars of the conservative movement.”
While Even’s own social media activity appears to be almost exclusively concerned with the Hong Kong protests and censorship by the Chinese government, his journey from protester to Infowars guest is also a perfect example of the ambiently reactionary online pipeline that can lead one from Googling political issues to ending up on right-wing content channels. (Even was seemingly 12 during his first Infowars appearance.) It’s also a reason why some were quick to interpret his nonsensical remarks about Bill Clinton and Orthodox Judaism as potentially antisimetic.
Prior to last night, Even’s last tweets were from March 2021 and were about concerns over the rise in hate crimes toward Asian Americans. Infowars, meanwhile, has seen founder Alex Jones successfully sued for hundreds of millions by the parents of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Most recently, however, the site tried to hold court with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who used the appearance to praise Hitler, a heel turn that comes amid a larger wave of antisemitism in conservative circles.
It was in front of that backdrop that some worried Even’s stunt was secretly some racist 4Chan deepcut. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who interviewed Even earlier today, said he appeared to understand Hebrew, and called him “almost certainly a Jewish prankster.”
He’s also disavowing his previous Infowars appearances, even while continuing his trolling in messages with other journalists.
“I never was an avid viewer [of Infowars] nor am I now,” he told Motherboard. He reportedly went on to call Clinton “a true inspiration, especially in the gaming space.”
If you’re planning a Halloween party and are looking for fun activities, look no further than the following Funko card and board games for the whole family.
Something Wild! The Nightmare Before Christmas (Ages 6+) – Is it a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie? In my house it’s both! If you’re a fan of the movie than this is a great card game for you. The game play itself is pretty quick, 15-20 minutes and it’s very straight forward. My kids both love this game, especially since they always beat me. I love games that are both simple and fun.
Boo Hallow: Pumpkin Showdown (Ages 6+) – This card game requires a minimum of 3 players but would best be played with up to 6 players. The object of the game is quite simple, dodge the pumpkins. Don’t worry though, you’re not literally throwing and dodging pumpkins! This is a strategic game where players can strategically eliminate other players, with the goal of being the last player standing. My kids had a lot of fun with this one.
Hocus Pocus: Tricks and Wits (Ages 8+) – It’s children vs witches in this fun card game that requires a really good poker face. There are two ways to win, either by being the team with the book card at the end, or the team with the 2 special cards. That poker face comes in handy when you score those cards (my kids cleverly jumped up and put face masks on to hide their smiles). I may have a hard time persuading my eldest to watch the movie, but he did have a blast playing the game.
Return of the Headless Horseman Game (Ages 6+) – The goal of this game is quite simple; get Ichabod to the covered bridge without being caught by the Headless Horseman. I absolutely love co-operative games, so this one was fun to play with my kids, strategizing together and winning together. I always get a little nervous when I see games with fancy spinners, but the quality of this game is wonderful and the spinner worked flawlessly each time.
Funkoverse: Universal Monsters (Ages 10+) – If you’ve played a Funkoverse game before and enjoyed it, then you’ll love this one. The Funkoverse games can be played as stand alone or expansions. The unique thing that stands out to me with this game is that it’s mostly in black and white. A few of the game play tokens have splashes of colour and there’s one red dice (the blood die) but everything else is black, white and shades of grey. This detail really elevates it as a Halloween game, setting that perfect spooky vibe. The game is for ages 10+, but the Funkoverse games can be a little tricker for 10-12 year olds. I recommend that when playing with that age group to make sure that you’ve read through the manual and can easily explain the game play to them so that you can dive right in a play.
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram.
We’ve got quite a few roadtrips planned this summer, and it’s always a challenge to keep my bean occupied and distracted during the long stretches of driving. While I’ll admit I definitely load up the laptop/tablet with movies and shows (for those reeeeally extended treks), I don’t like to only resort to technology. So I’ve found that some careful planning by way of toys, activities, books and more makes going “on the road again” a lot more enjoyable.
LeapFrog LeapStart. LeapStart is an interactive learning system that gets kids excited about counting, learning to read, problem solving and more through fun, replayable activities. The magic behind LeapStart is a stylus that reads invisible dots on every page, triggering questions, challenges, songs, jokes and more. This kept my bean occupied all the way to a cabin in upstate New York (that’s four hours, people). We can’t wait to try out the hundreds of books that can be incorporated into our system.
Where’s Waldo? Games on the Go! To be quite honest, I may have gotten this for my bean but I played it just as much as my son. Finding that sneaky Waldo is super addicting, and definitely helps to pass the time. This awesome format contains classic “Where’s Waldo?” challenges as well as spot-the-difference activities, matching exercises, quizzes, doodles, mazes, brainteasers, and more.
The Travel Activity Book. It’s got it all: Doodles to draw, puzzles to solve, games to play, and stickers to find. What we love about it is that it has illustrations and photography for lots of visual fun, and it also highlight facts and information about real destinations and monuments, so littles can discover life and culture around the world. Learn about cultural norms, such as why it is considered polite to remove your hat at the dinner table or in which country you shouldn’t eat everything on your plate! There’s also a page of stickers included, which is always a hit with my bean.
Kandoo wipes make roadtrips cleaner and less stressful. I always have them on-hand when we travel (and in the car… and in my purse). They’re flushable and super gentle on sensitive skin, not to mention compact. Eating meals and snacking on-the-go can make for a sticky mess, so tuck these into the pockets on the backs of the seats, in your child’s travel bag, etc.
Skiphop backpack. The bean has the adorable Hudson Hedgehog backpack, and he takes on every trip we go on. It’s a perfect little bag, with both a small compartment and a larger one, ideal to tuck next to him in the backseat of the car. It even has a mesh side pocket for his water bottle.
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.
NEW YORK, April 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Blitzionaire by Playnance.com, the play-to-earn game that makes having fun literally pay off, sent over 100,000 NFTs to players all around the globe. In a world where digital assets seek to replace reality as we know it, playing a game as Blitzionaire can truly take players to the next level of fun and fortune.
To provide players more influence over in-game assets, an NFT game mixes traditional gaming ideas with unique game methods. Launching games and anchoring them with digital asset-powered economies makes this possible. NFTs are commonly used for these digital assets since they are distinctive and tamper-proof. The implementation of NFT token standards also allows game creators to keep certain of these in-game objects rare and distinctive.
Blitzionaire is a one-of-a-kind, play-to-earn trading game. A player-vs-player prediction game on real-time market rates, users play on real-time markets and earn virtual BlitzCoins on their winnings. Players can buy real NFTs with the coins they earn; the only investment required is time and effort.
Players can use this system to claim ownership of game assets, buy digital items and unlock and earn new items. Players have exclusive ownership rights over these game assets regardless of how they access them. In essence, the player is the owner of the asset and can use it as he desires. This is why the gaming model is referred to as “play-to-earn.”
Virtual economies in gaming universes are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in the worlds of metaverse and web 3.0. Gamers add value by devoting time to the game and actively participating in the in-game economy. The play-to-earn model could be viewed as a way to synergize both parties so that everyone is rewarded for their contributions. On the one hand, game developers can create a more vibrant in-game economy. Gamers, on the other hand, get to keep their in-game assets and are rewarded for their efforts.
Blitzionaire developers took the play-to-earn ecosystem one step further. NFTs can be obtained for free by simply playing the game. Even if players remain at the freemium level, they are still eligible for NFTs if they accumulate the required number of virtual coins. That explains the massive number of NFTs sent to players’ personal wallets since the beginning of the year.
The Blitzionaire “play-to-earn” developers collaborated with a team of superstar NFT designers to create unique collections of BlitzDogs NFTs. Collection items drop every two weeks, leading players to compete for the next big collection drop.
In recent months, the Playnance.com development team has been working on a new and improved version that will be released soon. An additional announcement will be made at the launch of the new version.
The forthcoming game gives players complete control over immersive combat and adult experiences in an RPG environment that thrills.
Press Release –
updated: Oct 21, 2021
BERLIN KÖPENICK, Germany, October 21, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– While the world of adult video games is growing in popularity, the genre isn’t anywhere near reaching its full potential. In creating more realistic adult simulations, game creators are beginning to push the boundaries of what is possible for gaming while exploring what mainstream markets will accept. And at game development hub Candy Valley Network, the team is hoping to crack the code of sensuality and gaming to make its game Wild Life the first mainstream indie adult game.
Wild Life creators describe the game as leading players through a world of wild encounters. Players lead Maya or Max through exploring the lush, wild planet Kerpal, while for all of its beauty, holds hidden dangers at every turn. Maya is a descendant of the planet’s inhabitants who survived the crash of their colonist ship eons ago, and since then adapted to its dangers. Sometimes these adaptations mean they have become dangerous themselves. Max is part of an expedition to Kerpal led by a group of explorers, but some have darker motivations.
Max and Maya must navigate these dark natural and human challenges as they determine who they can trust and whose animalistic instincts have gotten the better of them, posing grave danger to them and others on Kerpal.
In an immersive RPG environment, Wild Life gives players the opportunity to engage in visually stunning combat and even more stunninginteractions, with details never seen before in a gaming environment.
With its rich, immersive experiences, Wild Life seeks to break the mold in gaming. As Max and Maya explore Kerpal, players simultaneously experience the desires of the lead characters, driving their interactions with a diverse cast of characters, both human and animalistic.
Wild Life is currently securing funds via crowdsourcing platforms Kickstarter and Patreon to bring the project to full production. As development continues, the game is available on Patreon for PC play in two modes, Demo and Sandbox. Patreon community members gain access to various aspects of the game in development by contributing to the process. The team hopes to launch mainstream and worldwide.
Thus far, the demo cut has been met with rave reviews from supporters and industry influencers for its rich, immersive gaming environment and stunning, realistic graphics.
“Our aim with Wild Life is not only to create a top-notch gaming experience but also revolutionize the way the mainstream gaming market thinks of adult content,” said Christian Wagenfeldt, CEO of Candy Valley Network. “We’re excited to bring this tantalizing, immersive experience to the public-at-large very soon, giving them the chance to experience gaming in a pulse-pounding way they’ve never experienced before.”
Scale the Ivory Tower, Either by Being Right or Knowing Who Else Is.
Press Release –
updated: Aug 26, 2021
LOS ANGELES, August 26, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– From New York Times bestselling pop science authors Zach and Kelly Weinersmith, along with celebrated game designer Matt Fantastic, comes a game that you can win either by knowing the truth or knowing who doesn’t. Everyone Else Thinks This Game Is Awesome (by Erasmus Fox)is a tabletop trivia game where players take on the role of scientific professionals. Either by knowing the answers to questions or by knowing who, if anyone, knows the answer, they earn citation points to fight their way up the academic ladder. Do you believe in yourself or follow along with whatever everyone else thinks? The first person to the top achieves the coveted status of Emeritus Professor.
With meticulously researched questions across a variety of scientific, historical, and just really weird topics, Everyone Else Thinks this Game Is Awesome will not only challenge your knowledge of the universe but may explode scientific “truths” you think you know.
When asked what the couple’s inspiration was for the game, Zach responded, “We decided to make a trivia card game, but it ended up being a research project. It turns out a lot of trivia people “know” is incorrect. Spinach? Not especially high in iron. A vomitorium? Not a place where decadent Romans went to vomit. The Great Wall of China? Actually, pretty hard to see from space. Megabats? Okay, megabats are real. And they have excellent vision. Anyway, if you’re the kind of person who can say “citation needed” with a straight face, we are here for you.“
Anyone with time to spare is encouraged to order the game to play with friends. According to designer Matt Fantastic, “This is a trivia game where nearly every question will cause you to waste several days on Wikipedia.”
The core game has over 1,000 questions. Planned expansions include a Death Pack, a Pseudoscience pack, and “Sex, Drugs, and Citations,” an uncomfortably large pack containing all the questions deemed too inappropriate for the main deck.
As Zach said, “I spent a full hour convincing myself that, contra the Internet, Cleopatra never had a [CENSORED] filled with bees. Also, turns out using [CENSORED] wasn’t a thing in the Victorian era. Also, you know those fish that swim up your [CENSORED]? Probably not a thing. The claim comes from a single incident that likely didn’t even happen. However, there are “[CENSORED]” which, well, I don’t want to give away too much.” Everyone Else Thinks This Game Is Awesome is live on Kickstarter now.
About the Creators:
American cartoonist and writer Zach Weinersmith has written and illustrated two New York Times bestselling books, performed dozens of sold-out performances of his “Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypothesis,” and is best known for his long-running comic strip, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC).
Kelly Weinersmith is a biologist who studies parasites that manipulate the behavior of their hosts. Her creepy and really disgusting research has been featured in National Geographic, BBC World, The Atlantic, and Popular Science. Kelly is also the co-author of Soonish, an NYTimes Bestseller on the future of technology.
Matt Fantastic is an accomplished game designer who founded both Forever Stoked Creative (Team3, Glamazons, X-Files Conspiracy Theory) and the New Haven Game Makers Guild. He also does consulting work for a number of corporate, NGO, and institutional clients including Netflix and Yale.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23070054/2_Chicory_dark.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3947392/cities_skylines.0.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23432762/citizen_sleeper_hed.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24954390/cocoon_bridge_desert.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21875170/Screenshot_2020_09_11_16.10.10.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22735596/Death_s_Door_Beginners_Guide45.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7737587/Baronofhell_1455901109.0.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23003492/Forza_Horizon_5_Barn_Find__1_T100_Toyota_Baja_1993_location.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11631401/grand_theft_auto_5_trevor_flames_3840.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19915807/halo_the_master_chief_collection_key_art.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20037689/ss_65db5eef2ea171cdfc5efb10f830d569411f6f70.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24390540/hi_fi_rush_3.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21822417/hitman_3_agent_47_atrium_3840.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24882081/lies_of_p_fall_games_2023.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22515505/mass_effect_legendary_edition_reapers_1920.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24940444/media_image_9.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23967686/01_213fb5e04d8b329b5d4e.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20016224/Persona_4_Golden_classroom_answers_guide.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22704412/ss_c3fb3194282ee4e6475423a5bbe2255f20e623b9.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9399661/stardew_valley.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23403681/screenshot6.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20021123/skyrim_se.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23210223/Vampire_Survivor_weapon_combinations_guide.jpg)
