Games

Over the past ten years, watching other people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) – often called “actual play” series – has become hugely popular. This trend really took off with shows like Critical Role, which stars well-known voice actors including Matthew Mercer, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, and Liam O’Brien. When people were looking for entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic, actual play series exploded in popularity, and that momentum has continued. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) even had its own show, Dice, Camera, Action, but it ended in 2020 following a disagreement between two of the players.

Phoenix City is famous for its incredible atmosphere, but it’s a tough place to navigate without a plan. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll quickly get lost and overwhelmed.

TopMob has translated the full interview with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero staff – Tetsuro Kodama, Jaehoon Jung, and Akio Iyoku – and Toei Animation Producer Norihiro Hayashida. The translation reveals details about the film’s production design, the decision to use CG animation, and hidden Easter eggs included by the team.

The following contains spoilers for Bayonetta 3.

People often underestimate Luffy, assuming he’s naive and lacks depth, but he’s actually a very thoughtful character. He strongly believes everyone deserves freedom and that people shouldn’t be limited by things like gender or race. While Luffy is one of the best-developed characters in anime, there are still other well-written characters out there.

As a huge One Piece fan, I’ve been thinking about how Viz Media translated Maki, and it’s interesting! They went with ‘Omen,’ which makes sense if you just look at the words, but it doesn’t quite capture what Maki is in the story. See, ‘Maki’ is the actual Japanese word for this power, and it’s super important because it’s directly linked to Haki. Haki is all about ‘spiritual domination,’ but Maki is more like ‘demonic energy’ – a kind of dark counterpart to Haki. Both words actually share ‘Ki,’ which just means spiritual energy, but that’s where the similarity ends. Haki has a positive vibe, while Maki, with its ‘demonic’ roots, feels like the opposite – a really cool, darker version of the same thing!

Fans have been waiting a long time, but the next installment in 4A Games’ Metro series, Metro 2039, is coming soon. The game will once again take players into the dark and dangerous tunnels beneath Moscow, filled with mutants and other threats. This sequel promises to be the most intense and frightening Metro game yet. This time, players won’t control Artyom, the series’ long-time hero. Instead, they’ll play as a mysterious character known as the Stranger, fighting against a harsh new government called the Novoreich, led by Hunter – a memorable character originally from Metro 2033. Metro 2039 is returning to the series’ scary, survival-horror origins, and the story is deeply influenced by the real-life experiences of the developers with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It could be the biggest and most impactful game in the Metro series so far.

The new open-world game in the popular monster-catching series reimagines famous locations from the original Pokemon games with a unique twist. Villages in Pokopia are based on cities from the Kanto region, like a ruined Fuchsia City becoming the Withered Wasteland and Pewter City transforming into Rocky Ridges. Players can even discover crumbling landmarks from Pokemon Red and Blue, such as Pewter City’s Museum and the S.S. Anne. Recently, a fan discovered and completely restored the Dojo in Sparkling Skylands, bringing the Fighting-type Gym back to its former glory.

Okay, so I thought I had a good handle on my gaming list, but wow, 2026 is already shaping up to be huge! Even though we’re still waiting for news on titles I’m really excited about, like Truth Scrapper and Threads of Time, there are so many other promising games coming out. Seriously, from relaxing, feel-good adventures to totally wild platformers, here are the 10 indie games I’m counting down the days to play.

Generation 1 of Pokemon Champions continues to showcase a preference for certain Pokemon, with a large number being readily available despite the original Pokedex only containing 186 species (excluding regional forms and variations). Powerful strategies are emerging, such as sun-based teams utilizing the combination of Chlorophyll, Sleep Powder, and Heat Wave with Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y and Venusaur to inflict massive damage. Mega Gengar is also popular, functioning either as a disruptive Shadow Tag and Perish Song user or a fast, hard-hitting attacker. However, Aerodactyl is clearly the most prominent and successful Pokemon in the current meta.