IGN

Labor Day 2025 is upon us, which means two things. First, the summer is coming to an end (welcome, cooler weather). Second, Labor Day sales abound this weekend. Alongside several major retailers, Walmart has launched its Labor Day sale, offering discounts on a wide range of items, ranging from Apple products and patio furniture to garden tools and toys. You can shop the wholesale here, or keep on reading to see our top 10 picks. Let’s dive in.

Walmart’s Labor Day Sale – Top Deals Live Today

If you don’t care to read about each product, you can see our top 10 picks right here.

Daybetter Led Strip Lights

2025 Apple 11-inch iPad A16 Wi-Fi 128GB

MorisMos Giant Teddy Bear

UNO Show ‘em No Mercy Card Game

LEGO Disney and Pixar ‘Up’ House

Play-Doh – Neon Colors

Zunmos Fabric Storage Dresser with 9 Drawers

NapQueen Victoria 10″ Queen, Gel Infused Memory Foam and Pocket Spring Hybrid Mattress

Astercook 6-Piece Color-Coded Kitchen Knife Set

Best Choice Cast-Iron Dutch Oven

Here’s some good news for bargain hunters: Best Buy’s Labor Day sale 2025 is now live. It has discounts on pretty much every category of item that Best Buy sells. We’re talking 4K TVs, laptops, gaming PCs, video games, appliances, cell phones, speakers, home office furniture, and more. It’s a lot. But that means you can save a lot on anything you’re in the market to buy as summer winds down. You can check out the full sale, or keep on reading for some of our hand-picked selections. Just make sure to make your purchases before the sale ends on Monday, September 1.

Best Buy Labor Day Sale – Top Deals Today

Best Buy is treating this Labor Day sale just like any of its major sale events. That means you’ll find discounts on just about everything. You can shop the sale by category by clicking into Laptops & Computers or Apple or Major Appliances. You can scroll through the main sale page to see what deals the retailer thinks are worth highlighting.

If you’re in the market for a new TV, I can 100% recommend the LG C5 series that’s on sale for Labor Day. My main TV is the LG CX from the same series five years ago. Despite its half decade of daily use, it’s still an absolutely gorgeous OLED 4K TV. And LG has continually improved the line each year, so this one is even better. In fact, last year’s model, the C4, is our pick for the best 4K smart TV to buy — but that’s probably just because the C5 just came out.

A whole bunch of video games are on sale, including a rare $20 discount on first-party Nintendo Switch games. That means you can get games like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership, all for $39.99 each. Note that the discount price appears when you add them to your cart for most of those.

Now is a great time to buy a new gaming laptop, since you can save up to a cool $400 off select models. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is one such powerful portable. It comes with a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card and 32GB RAM. The display is a 14-inch OLED, which ought to look fabulous no matter what game you’re playing. Other gaming laptops, from Acer, MSI, and Lenovo are also on sale, as are desktop PCs and accessories like monitors, mice, and headsets.

Apple products are always good to pick up when you can find them on a discount. Best Buy has iPads up to $200 off, with discounts on everything from the baseline iPad and iPad mini, all the way up to the 13-inch iPad Pro. AirPods are also on sale, as are iPhone 14 models and iMacs. If there’s an Apple item you’re interested in picking up, chances are you’ll find it on sale right now.

And even though the summer is drawing to a close doesn’t mean you can’t keep going outside after Labor Day. A bunch of outdoor living items are on sale now, too, ranging from grills and fire pits to battery-powered lawn tools and even generators. Now is a good time to pick up leaf blowers and patio furniture, too, seeing as fall will bring with it cooler weather.

More Labor Day sales to shop

If you don’t see anything you want to buy in the Best Buy sale, the good news is that there are quite a few other Labor Day sales live ahead of the weekend. Most notably, the Amazon Labor Day sale has similar tech discounts offered here. And The Home Depot also has similar deals on appliances. You can check out this quick thread for all of the biggest retailer sales going on now.

All of the major Labor Day sales are live already. Here’s a thread of where you can find discounts this weekend.

— IGN Deals (@IGNDeals) August 27, 2025

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Following Walt Disney – A Magical Life at Disneyland, Walt Disney is getting another Audio-Animatronics figure at Disney World’s Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom.

The big news was revealed during Destination D23, and it was confirmed that Walt Disney will now introduce Carousel of Progress in a new scene that will precede four scenes of John, Sarah, Rover, and the rest of the family as we once again follow them throughout the decade and see the evolution of life in the United States.

This is such a big moment for so many reasons, including that, much like Disneyland’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Carousel of Progress was one of Walt’s greatest creations. It first debuted at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, moved to Magic Kingdom in 1975, and has since had more performances than any other stage show in the history of American theater.

“We are grateful to The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Imagineering for their continued collaboration and ongoing partnership with The Walt Disney Family Museum. The introduction of a new Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney in ‘Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress’ marks an exciting milestone in our shared mission to celebrate the story of the man behind the magic and inspire new generations with his innovations and vision for the future. We appreciate the continued efforts and meticulous care that Imagineering has taken to keep Walt’s legacy alive,” Kirsten Komoroske, Executive Director of the Walt Disney Family Museum said.

The Amazon Labor Day sale has been dropping new deals all week. If you’re looking to do some shopping this weekend, now is a great time to save some money. Although Labor Day sales aren’t as good as the bigger shopping events like Prime Day or Black Friday, these discounts are still some of the best you’ll find all year. With U.S. tariffs still going into effect this summer, it’s unlikely that prices are going to get any better.

Amazon’s sale has some great discounts on things you need and things you want right now, but not everything listed as a Labor Day deal is actually a good deal. You can dive right into the official sale page below, or scroll down further to see some of the best discounts I could find.

We’ve rounded up the best deals for Saturday, August 30, below, so don’t miss out on these limited-time offers.

Save on the Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy Commander Deck Bundle

As we head into September, it’s getting colder, the sun is setting earlier, and we’re forced to reckon with the inevitable passage of time. Thankfully, we’re also coming up on the best season for sitting in the darkness watching TV. And what service has shows that can be hard to watch when you have any natural light in your room? Yep, I’m talking about HBO Max.

While I unfortunately do remember the final season of Game of Thrones, HBO Max is still a personal favorite and probably the service I watch the most. Whether you’re already subscribed, considering a new subscription, or honestly don’t remember what you’re paying for anymore, here’s a look at everything coming to the service in September.

What’s Coming to HBO Max: Highlights

I’ve picked out some highlights for the audience here at IGN, but feel free to jump to the very long bulleted list of the full September lineup.

New Deal With GKIDS Kicks Into Gear (September 1)

A series of highlights this month stems from HBO’s recently announced deal with GKIDS. A spread of otherwise hard to find live-action and anime movies from Japanese directors are joining the streamer’s existing slate of Studio Ghibli movies. The following films will all make their North American streaming debut on September 1:

• Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko
• Ghost Cat Anzu
• Lonely Castle in the Mirror
• Love & Pop
• The Place Promised in Our Early Days

Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. will also be making its 4k streaming debut on the service, though keep in mind 4K streaming is limited to Premium HBO Max subscribers.

Rick and Morty Season 8 (September 1)

The latest season of Rick and Morty aired on Adult Swim earlier this year. IGN’s review describes a slow start, but that “things do get markedly better as the season progresses, culminating in two all-time banger episodes.”

Unlike most animated shows in the modern era, Adult Swim decided against streaming new episodes after the live premieres. Instead, the full season is coming to HBO Max several months after its finale.

The Fate of the Furious: Director’s Cut (September 1)

Fast and Furious is one of those franchises where it’s impossible to find every movie on one service. The eighth installment, The Fate of the Furious is just one of the several movies in the series that is only available to rent or buy on digital. Well, until now. Both the theatrical and director’s cuts are landing on HBO Max on the first of the month.

Friendship (September 5)

If you’re a fan of Tim Robinson or cringe comedy in general, you have to watch Friendship. The comedian stars alongside Paul Rudd as neighbors, one of which is certainly on the quirkier side. (Take a guess on who plays who.)

Katie Rife’s review for IGN goes so far as to say it’s “an absurdist take on the buddy comedy that plays like a loosely connected series of sketches from Robinson’s Netflix hit I Think You Should Leave.” Which, again, I truly think is a good thing. The directorial debut from Andrew DeYoung hits HBO Max on September 5.

Task (Premieres September 7)

From Brad Ingelsby, the creator of Mare of Easttown, Task is a new crime drama that follows a Philadelphia detective assembling a task force to take on a local criminal. The series stars Mark Ruffalo, Tom Belphrey, and Emilia Jones, and will take HBO’s prime time spot, streaming new episodes at the same time they air live on Sundays at 9pm ET.

Warfare (September 12)

The latest from Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza hit theaters this past April, and while it arrived on digital within a few weeks, the movie is coming to HBO Max around five months later.

As an immersive look at the Iraq War, IGN’s review describes Warfare as “the kind of film where you’re sitting holding your breath, tensed up, for much of the run time. (94 minutes, in case you’re wondering whether or not it’ll be too much to endure.)” Garland’s next project is none other than the Elden Ring movie, which he seems to be preparing for in appropriate ways.

Everything Coming to HBO Max in September

Destination D23 2025 has arrived, and a weekend’s worth of panels was kicked off by the Walt Disney Studios Showcase. It was filled with surprises and reveals, including Toy Story 5’s intro with an army of High-Tech Buzz Lightyears, the reveal of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Hexed, a clip of Din Djarin that evoked Darth Vader’s iconic scene from Rogue One, and much more.

There was a lot revealed during the showcase, and you can find all the biggest reveals below! Let us know which one was your favorite!

Toy Story 5 Opening Scene Features a Ton of High-Tech Buzz Lightyears Stranded on an Island, Conan O’Brien to Voice a Potty Training Toy

Toy Story 5 is set to be released in Summer 2026 and we were treated to the opening scene of the much-anticipated new entry in the beloved franchise, and it featured a ton of Hi-Tech Edition Buzz Lightyears.

We open on one of these Buzz toys waking up on an island, and we see a ton of others, in and outside of thier boxes, who have crashed on a small island after their shipping container got lost at sea. We see that these toys are updated versions, as Buzz has a digital display on the front and he looks very new and shiny.

He starts opening up the other Buzz toys and they begin searching the island for an escape, using their lasers on the way, even though they don’t work… because they are a toy haha. They realize their chance to escape is not great and gather around a fire. One of the Buzz toys looks up and sees a star in the sky and speaks his first words – “Star… Command… Rendezvous Star Command”

We then see the stars in the sky form the Toy Story 5 logo and the footage is over!

That wasn’t all, however, as it was revealed that Conan O’Brien will be playing a new character named Smarty Pants – a potty training toy! He will join Lilypad, the new iPad-like toy that Bonnie was gifted and will feed into the theme of the film – Toy Meets Tech.

The Mandalorian and Grogu Clip Features Din Djarin Acting Like Darth Vader in That Iconic Rogue One Scene and Many Adorable Grogu Moments

The Mandalorian & Grogu is set to be released in theaters on May 22, 2026, and we were treated to a clip of the film at Destination D23 featuring AT-ATs, Grogu being just absolutely adorable, and a scene of Mando acting just like Darth Vader in Rogue One

The footage kicks off with a group Snowtroopers getting ready to defend themselves from a threat we soon learn is Din Djarin. He uses all kinds of tools to just take everyone down with ease, from his flamethrower to knives to a blaster and more. It was a very exciting scene that, like we said, very much felt like that iconic scene from Rogue One.

It then cut to one of the AT-ATs exploding and falling off a treacherous and snowy path in the mountains, and it’s an epic look at how The Mandalorian translates to the big screen.

Sigourney Weaver was also seen on-screen with Grogu trying to steal her snacks, Zeb popped up for a moment, and Grogu is even seen using the Force to handle a GONK-like droid and dodging one of its tires in a wonderful way.

The last shot was of a Hutt in an arena who just may be the one played by Jeremy Allen White, and it ends with what looked like Grogu eating something like popcorn in excitement.

Avengers: Doomsday Directors Joe and Anthony Russo Share A Message on Set That Is Crashed by Paul Rudd

While we didn’t get any news about Avengers: Doomsday, those in attendance at Destination D23 were treated to a very funny message from directors Joe and Anthony Russo that was crashed by Paul Rudd.

The team is developing the movie in London, and Paul Rudd just does what he does best and keeps unintentially getting in the way while just trying to help and say hi.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Fall 2026 Film Is Called Hexed

Coming to theaters in Fall 2026, Disney’s #Hexed is an all-new original film that follows an awkward teenage boy and his Type – A mom, who discover that what makes him unusual, might just be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic, upside down.… pic.twitter.com/wGEM3gNkor

— Disney Animation (@DisneyAnimation) August 30, 2025

Hexed is a new Walt Disney Animation Studios film that’s headed to theaters in Fall 2026, and we learned it “follows an awkward teenage boy and his Type – A mom, who discover that what makes him unusual, might just be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic, upside down.”

Hexed will be directed by Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand, and Roy Conli and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones will be serving as producers.

Zootopia 2 Clips Show How a Very Important Book Can Change How the World Sees Snakes Forever and How Stunning a Horse Mayor Can Be

Just announced at Destination @DisneyD23: Patrick Warburton as Mayor Winddancer and Yvette Nicole Brown as EMT Otter and Bearoness Bear in #Zootopia2, in theaters November 26. #DestinationD23 pic.twitter.com/oa79kOlgKR

— Disney Animation (@DisneyAnimation) August 30, 2025

Zootopia 2 is headed to theaters on November 26, 2025, and this sequel helped end the presentation with some new clips and fun moments.

We learned that Zootopia 2 kicks off with Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps as Zootopia Police Department’s newest rookie cop partners. According to director Jared Bush, we will learn if they have what it takes to last in the long run, and that this film will be “what moving in feels like,” as the original was like a “honeymoon.”

The opening scene was also shown, and it sees Nick and Judy undercover and chasing after an anteater smuggler in a stolen catering van. They are racing through an area with a ton of sheep, and they crash into a collection of wool and it gets everywhere, including on Nick’s face as a beard. The pair also have to deal with other ZPD members, who don’t believe these two can handle this job.

As it turns out, the anteater was smuggling in a pit viper named Gary De’Snake, who is played by Ke Huy Quan, and he is after a book that he hopes will change how the world views snakes forever and save his family in some way.

Patrick Warburton, who is playing a horse/stallion named Mayor Winddancer, also stepped on stage and talked about his character. He is an actor-turned-politician who starred in such films as The Neighsayer Part 2. In a great line from the fake movie, he says, “You say justice is dead… I say… NEIGH.”

We then learned Judy and Nick will actually become fugitives when they try to help Gary escape. Their journey takes them to Marsh Market, which is kind of cut off from the rest of Zootopia and isn’t the most welcoming to land animals, which is demonstrated hilariously by Nick thinking he knows how to deal with these animals and failing miserably.

Before we got to see our final clip through this area, we learn the villains of this film have committed murder to keep the secret of this book hidden, and Nick and Judy need to chase Gary to get it back and solve this mystery. This chase, which Bush described as one of the studio’s “most ambitious chase scene ever animated,” involved hopping on different types of boats, on the top of walruses, away from ZPD hippos (complete with a Hungry, Hungry Hippos nod!), and a trip down a water tube travel system that ends over a waterfall.”

Also revealed at Destination D23 was that Yvette Nicole Brown will be part of the cast as The Baroness and EMT Otter.

Pixar Reminds Us That Hoppers Isn’t Avatar, But It Will Use The Comparison in a Great Way

Pixar’s Hoppers is set to be released in theaters on March 6, 2025, and the team and film promises it isn’t Avatar! However, it does share some DNA with that film as it involves people building tech to be able to jump into the minds of beavers.

Our hero, Piper Curda’s Mabel, gets ahead of the game and uses the tech to jump into the mind of a beaver. She then finds herself in the wild that is threatened by an encroaching beltway that is being developed and destroying the nature in its path.

The clips we were shown were all about seeing Mabel’s experience as this beaver, including her first moments which involve talking to a dragonfly and a pack of birds before a bear starts eating another beaver. Mabel is horrified and tries to stop it, but the pair don’t react as she expected. Apparently there are set Pond Rules that state if an animal is caught, it accepts that it is to be eaten! Now that Mabel has ruined this, the bear and other beaver said it’s all awkward now and the bear doesn’t even want to eat the beaver, who was ready to let him eat him.

Another clip introduces us to Bobby Moynihan’s King George, who walks Mabel through the area he has built for animals that have been displaced, and it is getting very crowded. In a funny/tragic moment, a worm is explaining the animals’ situation to Mabel before getting eaten by a passing bird!

The next clip shows a group of beavers celebrating by building a dam, because “work is the party!”

Lastly, we saw footage starring Jon Hamm’s Mayor Jerry, who is up for re-election and is leading this new beltway construction. As he gets in his car, Mabel, King George, and the now-famous lizard from the end-credits of Elio. They use text-to-speech to say his life is in danger and he needs to listen to them and stop this beltway. This danger is seen as a growing group of birds outside the car, and the clip ends when they drive away.

Tron: Ares Clip Shows a Stunning Light Cycle Chase in the Real World

Tron: Ares is nearly here, and a new clip shown at Destination D23 was an exciting one that featured Jared Leto’s Ares, Greta Lee’s Eve, Jodi Turner-Smith’s Athena, and Evan Peters’ Julian Dillinger. In the clip, we see Julian and his team building Light Cycles in the real world for Ares and Athena, who are ordered to capture Eve in the next 29 minutes.

What followed was an exciting chase through the city that featured a Light Cycle using its beams to cut a police car in half, Eve using her motorbike to knock Athena off her Light Cycle, and Eve taking over that same Light Cycle to escape Athena after she was knocked down a parking garage and was sprinting back up.

Tron: Ares will be released in theaters on October 10, 2025.

It was also revealed that a red overlay and music from Nine Inch Nails will be added to Tron Lightcycle Run at Walt Disney World and Shanghai Disney Resort.

Worlds are colliding.

A red overlay and music from Nine Inch Nails are on the way to Walt Disney World and Shanghai Disney Resort to celebrate Tron: Ares coming to theaters October 10. 🎶 https://t.co/PRnCWSKK0w pic.twitter.com/NXQEYHjkOz

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) August 30, 2025

Ice Age: Boiling Point Is the Name of the Next Entry of the Chilly Franchise

Ice Age: Boiling Point is the official name of the next entry of the chilly franchise that is set to be released in theaters in February 2027. There wasn’t much else revealed, but it was confirmed Scrat and Baby Scrat will be involved and it will take us to “corners of the treacherous lost world we haven’t seen before.”

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw Clip Takes Place on a Chaotic Snow Day

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw will debut in theaters on December 5, 2025, and we were shown a clip that involved Greg Heffley trying to remove snow from the lawn of an older lady who is just trying to enjoy the Christmas spirit. They want a way to clean faster, so they get a lawn mower out of the garage and think it will help. Sadly, it goes haywire and destroys all of the Christmas decorations and even the dog house.

Developing…

If you’ve played more than a few role-playing games, you’ll know how your hero’s journey typically plays out. In the prologue, a terrible thing will happen – an event that demands you move quickly to prevent an apocalypse or defeat an all-encompassing evil. In the following hours, you’ll spend 90% of your time completely ignoring that impending threat, instead helping randomers you met in the pub and collecting loot from dungeons. That’s okay, though, because the big bad will always wait for you. The world perpetually teeters on the brink of extinction until you’re ready to fix it.

Not so in The Blood of Dawnwalker, the first RPG from Rebel Wolves, a new studio founded by former CD Projekt Red staff. Its campaign puts you on a clock: you have 30 days and 30 nights to save your family from evil vampires.

That hold-on-while-I-do-a-thousand-side-quests meme “was definitely one of the reasons” for this interesting approach, creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz says with a smile. “I wouldn’t say it was the sole reason, but I would say this was definitely a starting point for a conversation.”

To properly understand that time pressure system, it’s best to start with how The Blood of Dawnwalker’s campaign is structured. Dubbed a “narrative sandbox,” it doesn’t follow a linear sequence of events. There’s no quest one, quest two, quest three and so on.

“After the prologue, you can go directly to the castle. You could try to rescue your family immediately,” explains Tomaszkiewicz. “There’s a variety of quests you can participate in. You can ignore them, or you can do them. There are a lot of activities that are directly targeted against [main villain] Brencis that will weaken him, for example, and make the attack easier. But at any point you can decide, ‘Okay, I’ve got enough, I’m going to the castle, I’m going to do it.’”

If The Blood of Dawnwalker was a book, then, you’d read the first chapter and then would be free to skip directly to the end. As for the optional chapters between those two points, you can read them in any order… but you’ll need to find the pages first. “You are not railroaded into these plotlines,” Tomaszkiewicz reveals. “You have to find them [in the world] on your own. We do leave breadcrumbs of course, but we want to make sure that it doesn’t feel like ‘These are the three plotlines, do them and then go there,’ right? We wanted to enhance the feeling of exploration and finding these stories in the world.”

That brings us back to the time system. You have 30 days and 30 nights to explore Vale Sangora, a 14th-century kingdom nestled in the Carpathian Mountains, and undertake as many (or as few) of those plotlines as you want. That time element evolved out of Dawnwalker’s protagonist, Coen. A man suffering from both silver poisoning and a vampiric curse, he lives as a mortal during the day and becomes a blood-sucker at night. “The time passage was kind of central to the character,” Tomaszkiewicz notes, especially since your vampiric abilities allow for a very different, more supernatural playstyle after dark.

A Clock That Never Ticks

Perhaps the most important thing to know is that there is no real-time ticking clock in The Blood of Dawnwalker. The minutes do not start counting down from the moment you start a new game. This is not Majora’s Mask or Outer Wilds. “We were thinking that if time would flow naturally, it might be quite unpleasant. The playstyle would change on the go [from human to vampire and back to human] constantly without your input,” explains Tomaszkiewicz. “So that’s where the time as a resource idea came in.”

It’s best to think of time in The Blood of Dawnwalker as a currency rather than a stopwatch. A bar, split into eight sections and displayed in the upper-right of the screen, represents your daily allowance of that currency. Performing significant actions marked with an hourglass icon, such as completing objectives or engaging in certain conversations, will “spend” a section of the bar. Similar to Deathloop, then, simply exploring or completing lower-level tasks will not progress time. Theoretically, you could stay in the noon period of the seventh day for dozens of in-game hours, provided you don’t do anything marked with that hourglass symbol.

While Rebel Wolves is very excited about the way time has shaped The Blood of Dawnwalker’s choices and quest design (of which you can learn more about in our recent preview), Tomaszkiewicz is aware that many people will be skeptical of the system. “I know there are a lot of players that are afraid of missing out, so we definitely tried to not cut off too much content,” he explains. “We are aiming, at least in a normal, average playthrough, for you to be able to do 80% of the content.”

Rebel Wolves has twisted temporal rules to deliver on that goal, particularly when it comes to how time-sensitive events are handled. For example, one storyline involves a burning house, but the flames will blaze indefinitely until you actually discover the building. Only then will you need to act before you spend too many sections of the time bar. There’s no chance of you turning up one day to find a house you never knew even existed is now a pile of rubble and ash.

Of course, regardless of how quests and time are handled, there’s always that looming pressure: 30 days and 30 nights to save your family. But there’s unwritten nuance in that deadline. “Don’t think about it as a game over thing,” Tomaszkiewicz hints. “It’s more like a choice and consequence thing.”

That’s the vital takeaway: you may have a time limit to save your family, but there is no time limit to complete the game. You can continue to play indefinitely after that point. And who is to say that saving your family will even be the most important part of your story? The Blood of Dawnwalker’s Steam page states: “Embark on the quest to save your family, or swear revenge on your sire and destroy everyone standing in your way.” Perhaps that tale of revenge will provide an alternate journey for the main campaign? I ask Tomaszkiewicz to elaborate, but he refuses. That Steam description is already more than enough, he says.

Control Your Dark Urge

It’s easy to see time, even when it only moves during specific actions, like sand slipping through your fingers. As something you lose. But it’s important to remember that progressing time brings you closer to one of The Blood of Dawnwalker’s most exciting features: Coen becomes a vampire at night. When the moon rises, you unlock the ability to walk up walls and along ceilings, and to teleport to rooftops and out-of-reach balconies. Such skills unlock a variety of opportunities, not to mention a stealthier play style. And so, if you want, you can skip the days and play only during the night. It’s a “totally viable way to play,” Tomaszkiewicz confirms, albeit with a warning that ignoring the day also means missing quests only available during the waking hours.

A vampire’s supernatural strength and skills come at a price, though, and it’s one we all know: gulping down vast quantities of blood. You’ll need to satisfy Coen’s hunger regularly, and the only truly gratifying meal is found in the neck of a human. You can opt to ignore that hunger, or feast on much less-satiating animals, but there are consequences to such a lifestyle.

“If you starve Coen, if you don’t feed him enough, and if you go into important conversations, he can lose control and just kill off important NPCs,” Tomaszkiewicz reveals.

Rebel Wolves isn’t unique in creating a game in which you can kill significant characters, but it’s doing so in its own way. You can’t just stride up to someone and cut them down with your sword, for instance – it’s always to do with your vampiric urges. But you do have a choice. “You can decide to give into your vampiric nature whenever it comes knocking,” Tomaszkiewicz explains, describing it as “the whispers of your dark nature.” But that’s only possible if Coen is merely hungry. If you starve him, then every conversation is a roll of the dice. The hunger could seize control, and you’ll have no option but to watch him chow down.

This system is possible thanks to that aforementioned “narrative sandbox” campaign structure. “In a game that has more of a strict core narrative, you couldn’t kill off a character that is pivotal to the story, right? Because the story would fall apart,” notes Tomaszkiewicz. Since all quests in The Blood of Dawnwalker (aside from the first and last) are essentially optional, it means anyone can be killed without derailing the story. Instead, those deaths become the story. You can punish characters you hate, or be caught off-guard by surprise slaughter.

This bloodlust is part of a wider set of overlapping systems designed to make the kingdom of Vale Sangora feel alive. NPCs have routines, and they’ll raise the alarm if they see you stealing or feeding on their neighbours. Rival factions will brawl each other in the streets. And the evil Brencis watches you from afar.

“As you gain more notoriety in the valley, as you do these acts against Brencis, he won’t stay passive,” Tomaszkiewicz reveals. “He will enact these edicts that will hamper your progression. So he might send out more soldiers into the streets, or patrolling the roads, or enforce a curfew. So now it’s more difficult to feed at night.”

Notoriety initially sounds like GTA’s wanted level, or the escalating response of Metal Gear Solid’s guards. But it’s actually more complex than a simple difficulty spike. “Sometimes it can actually be a boon,” Tomaszkiewicz explains. “It’s not just Brencis and his soldiers [who react to your notoriety,] it’s also the people in the valley. They will recognize you and be afraid of you. So in some quest situations it actually might be helpful. There are some factions that fight against Brencis, they don’t like him. So building up notoriety is actually a good way to gain a good standing with them.”

The End and Beyond

The narrative sandbox approach means Rebel Wolves has had to pay close attention to how the story ends. The ability to skip over every major quest, or kill off significant characters, means every player will hit the finale with different levels of knowledge. Some may not even know what a Dawnwalker is, while others will have found solutions to all the major problems. And so when I ask how many endings the story has, Tomaszkiewicz doesn’t have an easy answer.

“This is a very complicated web of connections,” he says. “I can tell you the designer working on the endings is… let’s say the meme of [It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day] with the red tape. That’s him basically. It is a lot of fun, but it’s a lot to keep track of.”

That’s not the only thing the story team needs to consider, either. The Steam page claims that this project is “the beginning of a brand-new saga built with love for the role-playing genre,” and so The Blood of Dawnwalker is just chapter one. The Rebel Wolves team may be building a game, but they are also building an entire universe that they plan to explore in subsequent games.

“We have ideas for the overarching story of Coen,” reveals Tomaszkiewicz. He says sequels are, of course, not guaranteed, but the team has ideas of where to go should this first game be a success.

“There is much more in the IP than just vampires, let’s say,” he teases. “There is this whole hidden world that we are not exploring on purpose in this first game. We want to leave a lot of fuel for the sequels and so on. But we do leave breadcrumbs and hint at these things. So yeah, we have a general idea of where we want to take Coen.”

Such sequels and grander saga ambitions are beyond Rebel Wolves’ grasp for now, just as The Blood of Dawnwalker is beyond our own – at this year’s Gamescom, we were only able to watch a demonstration rather than go hands-on ourselves. And as exciting and promising as that demo was, it’ll take first-hand experience of the narrative sandbox to truly tell if the studio’s bold approach to RPG design has paid off. But just as Coen thirsts for the blood of mortals, I hunger to taste more of this fascinating, risk-taking Slavic fantasy.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.

Destination D23 2025 has arrived, and we’re at the Walt Disney Studios Showcase. This panel is all about giving us a sneak peek at the future of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and so much more.

We’ll be updating this article throughout the panel, so be sure to stay tuned to learn about the exciting movies and films on our way from Disney.

Toy Story 5 Opening Scene Features a Ton of High-Tech Buzz Lightyears Stranded on an Island, Conan O’Brien to Voice a Potty Training Toy

Toy Story 5 is set to be released in Summer 2026 and we were treated to the opening scene of the much-anticipated new entry in the beloved franchise, and it featured a ton of Hi-Tech Edition Buzz Lightyears.

We open on one of these Buzz toys waking up on an island, and we see a ton of others, in and outside of thier boxes, who have crashed on a small island after their shipping container got lost at sea. We see that these toys are updated versions, as Buzz has a digital display on the front and he looks very new and shiny.

He starts opening up the other Buzz toys and they begin searching the island for an escape, using their lasers on the way, even though they don’t work… because they are a toy haha. They realize their chance to escape is not great and gather around a fire. One of the Buzz toys looks up and sees a star in the sky and speaks his first words – “Star… Command… Rendezvous Star Command”

We then see the stars in the sky form the Toy Story 5 logo and the footage is over!

That wasn’t all, however, as it was revealed that Conan O’Brien will be playing a new character named Smarty Pants – a potty training toy! He will join Lilypad, the new iPad-like toy that Bonnie was gifted and will feed into the theme of the film – Toy Meets Tech.

The Mandalorian and Grogu Clip Features Din Djain Acting Like Darth Vader in That Iconic Rogue One Scene and Many Adorable Grogu Moments

The Mandalorian & Grogu is set to be released in theaters on May 22, 2026, and we were treated to a clip of the film at Destination D23 featuring AT-ATs, Grogu being just absolutely adorable, and a scene of Mando acting just like Darth Vader in Rogue One

The footage kicks off with a group Snowtroopers getting ready to defend themselves from a threat we soon learn is Din Djarin. He uses all kinds of tools to just take everyone down with ease, from his flamethrower to knives to a blaster and more. It was a very exciting scene that, like we said, very much felt like that iconic scene from Rogue One.

It then cut to one of the AT-ATs exploding and falling off a treacherous and snowy path in the mountains, and it’s an epic look at how The Mandalorian translates to the big screen.

Sigourney Weaver was also seen on-screen with Grogu trying to steal her snacks, Zeb popped up for a moment, and Grogu is even seen using the Force to handle a GONK-like droid and dodging one of its tires in a wonderful way.

The last shot was of a Hutt in an arena who just may be the one played by Jeremy Allen White, and it ends with what looked like Grogu eating something like popcorn in excitement.

Avengers: Doomsday Directors Joe and Anthony Russo Share A Message on Set That Is Crashed by Paul Rudd

While we didn’t get any news about Avengers: Doomsday, those in attendance at Destination D23 were treated to a very funny message from directors Joe and Anthony Russo that was crashed by Paul Rudd.

The team is developing the movie in London, and Paul Rudd just does what he does best and keeps unintentially getting in the way while just trying to help and say hi.

Developing…

Storied film and television executive Frank Price passed away on August 25, 2025, at age 95. Besides being one of the primary developers of the TV movie and miniseries concepts, Price was himself a story editor/writer of 1950s programs like The Virginian and Tales of Wells Fargo before becoming the head of Universal Television where he oversaw shows like Kojak, Baretta, and The Rockford Files. He segued into the movie business in 1978 as president of the film division at Columbia Pictures, greenlighting classics like Kramer vs. Kramer, Gandhi, The Karate Kid, and Ghostbusters. In late 1984 he moved to Universal where he ported over Columbia projects like Back to the Future and Out of Africa to become monster hits.

I first encountered Price as one of the executive figures in Jack Matthews’ classic behind-the-scenes exposé The Battle of Brazil (about the conflict between director Terry Gilliam and Universal over that film), and then much later as a figure of importance for my own non-fiction book, A Masterpiece in Disarray, about David Lynch’s Dune, which Price supervised the release of. After being generous with his time on that book, I got to speak to Price again last year where the subject of his fortuitous – and arguably crucial – involvement in bringing Marvel Comics to live-action came up.

“I think I am indirectly responsible for the whole Marvel thing because of the Incredible Hulk television series,” Price told me in June of 2024. “I did that at Universal, and Marvel was basically going out of business. We could have bought Marvel for $50 million at that point, but [Universal boss] Sid [Sheinberg] decided against it. Today that’s worth billions.”

Taking a Chance on Stan

Marvel Comics properties have been arguably the dominant force in movies since the launch of X-Men in 2000, with films in the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe alone accounting for $32 billion in global business since 2008. A comic book fan since childhood, Price had known Stan Lee and by the mid-1970s was willing to take a chance on Marvel’s sprawling universe of characters in a live-action milieu.

“I had 10 of the Marvel comics,” Price stated. “I had an option deal with Marvel where of their 110 or 120 characters I could select 10, so I had the pick of the litter. This is just before I left to go to Columbia, and so I didn’t get all of them done. Fortunately the thing I got from Bob Wessler, who was head of CBS, was a commitment of 10 two-hour movies on these superheroes. The way I did it was I had our art department make life-size [cardboard] cartoons of these characters. I took them all over to a meeting at CBS, put them around the room to pitch this, and he bought it. He committed to the two-hour movies. The first one was Incredible Hulk.”

To bring Lee and Jack Kirby’s The Incredible Hulk to life on the small screen, Price went to one of Universal Television’s newest big producers, Kenneth Johnson, who was fresh off of creating The Bionic Woman (a spin-off from Harve Bennett’s The Six Million Dollar Man), which ran for three seasons.

Price said, “I did Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, and that was before Incredible Hulk, so I like the superhero things. There are certain basic things you need to observe to keep the premise, right? On my superhero stuff I had rules, that if the Six Million Dollar Man had the strength of 20 men, that means 21 can overcome it. That’s the danger point. You’ve always got to have a vulnerable superhero.”

“Frank called me and he said, ‘Look, we just acquired the rights to five of the Marvel Comics superheroes. Which one would you like to do?'” Johnson told IGN in the wake of Price’s death. “He was giving me the first choice, which was flattering, but I said, ‘Gee, Frank, thanks, but none of them.'”

Johnson did not necessarily want to be pigeonholed as a science fiction guy, unable to identify with Marvel’s slate of “spandex and primary colors” characters. At the time there was so little demand for them in Hollywood that Price got the rights for a song, with Johnson claiming the number was around $7K for each title. Although Universal had the rights to 10 of the superheroes, the potential first wave had been whittled down to five, which consisted of The Hulk, Captain America, The Human Torch, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Ms. Marvel. The latter two would have been competing directly with similar TV fare like NBC’s short-lived Man From Atlantis starring Patrick Duffy and Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman.

“I had a lot of respect for him, but I just didn’t want to go down that road with Marvel stuff,” Johnson continued. “But at the time, I was reading a book my wife Susie gave to me called Les Miserables, so I had the fugitive concept rattling around in my head with the inspector pursuing him. Sitting there at night, I thought, ‘I bet I could take a little bit of Victor Hugo and a little bit of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and take this ludicrous thing called The Incredible Hulk and turn it into an adult psychological drama. Not a comic book show.’ I went back to Frank with that concept and he said, ‘Okay, that’s great.’ We were going to do two movies, that was the order CBS had in mind: A genesis movie where we show how it begins/how the situation arose, and then a two-hour follow-up movie about how this could be an episodic.”

Part of Johnson’s deal with Price involved him making the two Hulk movies in exchange for a “one for me” that would keep him from being pigeonholed as a sci-fi guy, i.e. a dramatic four-hour miniseries based on Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.

Said Johnson, “We shook hands on it and Bob’s your uncle. Then I sat down and in seven days wrote the story and screenplay for the pilot movie of The Incredible Hulk. Frank was great, he completely left me alone. We shot the white pages of my first draft screenplay, which was a rarity at that time… still is. I also insisted on casting it myself, writing it with Bill Bixby in mind. I had seen a performance Bill had done in a TV movie called Steambath, so he’d always been in my head. I wrote, produced, and directed the pilot that Universal later released as a foreign theatrical, which I had no idea. I got a call one day from Universal, ‘Hey, congratulations, you have the top-grossing movie in Europe!’

“Then I began working on the script for Ivanhoe, but by the time the script was written, Frank had left the studio. The new guy who had come in to replace Frank said, ‘Well, we’re not going to do that.’ I said, ‘I shook Frank’s hand,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, well Frank’s hand is no longer here to sign the check.’ Welcome to Hollywood, Kenny.”