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Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has ended its 10-episode first season on Disney+. The series started out on an ambitious note, making some often profound changes to Spider-Man’s traditional mythology. That doesn’t change now, with the finale dropping some major bombshells and setting up a very interesting Season 2.

How does Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Season 1 end? How does it set up a fascinating new conflict for Hudson Thames’ Peter Parker in Season 2? And will there actually be a Season 2? Here’s everything you need to know.

Warning: full spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!

Spider-Man’s Time Loop Paradox

The series opened by presenting a decidedly different take on Spider-Man’s origin story. In Episode 1, Peter doesn’t go through the usual motions of attending a laboratory demonstration and being bitten by a radioactive spider. Instead, he’s caught in the middle of a fight between Doctor Strange (Robin Atkin Downes) and a monster that looks a little like Venom (and for good reason, as we’ll get into later). The monster sheds a lone spider which lands on Peter and bites him, sparking his transformation into Spider-Man.

At the time, it seemed as though the series was trying to establish a more mystical or supernatural element to Spidey’s powers, hence the Doctor Strange connection. But now we know the situation is even weirder than it seemed.

Season 1 culminates with Colman Domingo’s Norman Osborn attempting to show off the fruits of his labors with the Oscorp intern team. Osborn harnesses the inventions and research of Peter himself, along with Amadeus Cho (Aleks Le), Jeanne Foucalt (Anjali Kunapaneni), and Asha (Erica Luttrell). Together, their work allows for the creation of a device that can open a gateway to literally anywhere in the universe. Needless to say, Peter isn’t thrilled about being used as a pawn in the creation of a potentially very dangerous piece of equipment.

It almost immediately becomes apparent just how dangerous the device is when Osborn peers into a supposedly empty corner of the universe and accidentally invites a ravenous monster into Oscorp headquarters. And not just any monster, but the same one we saw fighting Doctor Strange in the premiere. And when Strange himself shows up to put a stop to Osborn’s interdimensional meddling, it becomes clear something very fishy is afoot.

During the course of their battle, Strange and the monster are thrust back in time to the very day Midtown High was destroyed and Peter became Spider-Man. It’s here where we learn the true origin of the spider the Venom-like monster shed. The spider isn’t a part of that monster, but was merely a stowaway from Oscorp’s lab. It was created by Osborn’s scientists as part of his research into replicating Spider-Man’s powers. The spider was empowered by Peter’s own radioactive blood. That leads to a real chicken and egg scenario. The spider gave Peter his powers, but it only had those powers to give because it was injected with Peter’s blood. So who came first – the spider or the Spider-Man? That’s time travel for you.

In any case, Spidey and Strange finally succeed in sending the monster back home and sealing off the portal before more Venom-y creatures can pass through. By this point, Peter is thoroughly disillusioned with Osborn, suggesting their mentor/mentee relationship won’t be continuing in Season 2. But he does get a nice pep talk from Strange, who by now is convinced Spider-Man has what it takes to be New York City’s greatest defender.

Will There Be a Season 2?

We’ll delve deeper into how Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sets up a second season in a minute. But first, it’s worth establishing whether there actually will be a Season 2. Loki aside, Marvel Studios doesn’t have a great track record with revisiting its various Disney+ shows. And when even big-budget Star Wars shows can be canceled due to low ratings, there’s never a guarantee of more.

Fortunately, all signs point to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man returning for a second and even a third season. Marvel renewed the series for Seasons 2 and 3 before Season 1 even premiered in January 2025.

Work is already well underway on Season 2 at this point, with executive producer Brad Widnerbaum revealing that the animators are halfway through the animatic stage. Winderbaum also revealed that he’ll soon be meeting with showrunner Jeff Trammell to hear Trammell’s pitches for Season 3.

“I’ve fallen so head over heels in love with these characters and I’ve now read all of the scripts for Season 2; we’re halfway through the animatics,” Winderbaum told The Movie Podcast. “What [Trammell] is building brick by brick in this show starts to pay off.”

As for when fans will actually see Season 2, that’s harder to say. Based on X-Men ‘97’s release cadence, it could be a while. X-Men ‘97: Season 1 debuted in March 2024, at which point the second season was already well into production. But X-Men ‘97: Season 2 isn’t on Marvel’s 2025 release calendar. At this point, fans will have to wait two years or more between seasons, and the same may end up holding true for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Venom and Spider-Man’s Symbiote Costume

From the beginning, we suspected that the monster Strange fought in Episode 1 was connected to Venom, and that theory is proven correct in the finale. Osborn’s machine opens a portal to what appears to be Klyntar, the alien world that serves as home to Venom and his fellow symbiotes. More of those symbiotes attempt to pass through the portal before Strange and Spidey manage to finally shut it down.

That said, the series seems to be directly setting up Spider-Man’s black costume and the eventual rise of Venom. A piece of one of the symbiotes gets left behind when the portal shuts off. It’s surely only a matter of time before it tracks Peter down and bonds with him. And from there, it’s inevitable that Peter will reject his new symbiote companion and someone close to him becomes Venom.

But who will be the Venom of the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man universe? Will the series borrow a page from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2, making Zeno Robinson’s Harry Osborn Venom? Will Eddie Brock be introduced in Season 2? All we know is that it can’t be a good thing that Norman is the one to discover the symbiote.

We’ll also have to see if Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man becomes the first Spider-Man animated series to feature the symbiote god Knull. Knull rules over his symbiotes from the center of Klyntar, and this brief encounter with Earth’s heroes may be all the motivation he needs to leave home and wage a campaign of destructive conquest.

The Scientists of W.E.B.

As mentioned, Peter and Norman’s relationship isn’t in the best state by the end of Season 1. As much as Norman has been a father figure and a much-needed source of moral and technological support for Peter, he ultimately showed his true colors by perverting the work of Peter and his fellow interns.

Most versions of the Spider-Man mythos have Norman eventually succumbing to his inner darkness and becoming the Green Goblin. We assume the same will hold true for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but the series seems to be taking a more methodical approach and slowly transforming Norman from friend to outright foe to Spidey.

For now, we know that Peter will pivot from being an Oscorp intern to helping Harry spearhead the W.E.B. initiative in Season 2. W.E.B. is designed to bring together the brightest young minds in the Marvel Universe and allow them to pursue their work without interference. We see a shot of a whiteboard full of potential W.E.B. candidates, including all of Peter’s fellow Oscorp interns (though Amadeus makes it pretty clear he’s not interested).

Naturally, that list of names includes quite a few intriguing characters from Marvel lore. Among those name-dropped are future Electro Max Dillon, future Hobgoblin Ned Leeds, mutant runaway Kiden Nixon, and noted super-geniuses Priya Aggarwal, Tiberius Stone, and Tai Miranda.

The Rise of Tombstone and Doctor Octopus

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man sets up a lot of potential villains for future seasons. In addition to the aforementioned Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, it stands to reason that Paul F. Tompkins’ Bentley Whitman will eventually become the techno-villain known as The Wizard, and that Zehra Fazal’s Carla Connors will eventually become The Lizard. But two budding villains in particular seem destined to have major roles in Season 2.

That’s definitely the case for Eugene Byrd’s Lonnie Lincoln, who has all but completed his evolution from All-American football star to supervillain crime boss. Earlier in Season 1, we saw Lonnie exposed to a toxic gas that gave him superhuman strength, allowing him to team up with Spidey and take down the Scorpion (Jonathan Medina). Sadly, Lonnie is now firmly committed to leading the 110th Street gang in his new persona Tombstone. When last we see Lonnie in the finale, it’s clear his body is suffering the lingering effects of the toxic gas, as his skin slowly turns ivory white to match the distinctive appearance of the comic book Tombstone.

It’s also clear Spidey will have plenty to fear from Hugh Dancy’s Doctor Octopus in Season 2. Otto Octavius plays a recurring role in Season 1, where he serves as a weapons master of sorts to various budding villains before venturing out onto his own. He may be in prison currently, but Otto clearly has big plans in mind. We suspect both Peter and Norman alike will be dealing with the rise of Doctor Octopus in Season 2.

Nico Minoru’s Magical Reunion

One of the more notable changes to the traditional Spider-man mythos in this series is the fact that Peter’s best friend isn’t Harry or Ned or Mary Jane Watson, but Grace Song’s Nico Minoru. Season 1 establishes Nico as a counterculture rebel who slowly comes around on Peter’s friendship with Harry and, eventually, discovers his secret identity. But as the finale shows us, Nico has a big secret of her own.

At several points, the series teases the idea that Nico may have some form of protective magic. In the final moments we see just how deep her magical talents lie, as she performs a ritual apparently designed to help her communicate with her birth mother.

All of this ties back to Nico’s rich history in Marvel’s various Runaways comics. There, Nico is one of several teens who runs away from home after discovering their parents are members of a supervillain cabal known as The Pride. As the magical heroine Sister Grimm, Nico wields an artifact known as the Staff of One. It allows her to cast any spell she can imagine, but with the caveat that she can only cast each spell exactly once.

It’s clear the series is giving us a fairly loose adaptation of Nico, and one who seemingly has no ties to the various other Runaways characters. Still, we’d expect Season 2 to delve much deeper into her magical background and the circumstances that caused her to become separated from her birth parents. Does this Marvel Universe have its own version of The Pride?

The Game-Changing Parker Family Secret

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man saves its biggest plot twist for last. We see Kari Wahlgren’s Aunt May leave the apartment to run a seemingly innocuous errand, only for May to travel to a prison to meet with an inmate. That inmate turns out to be none other than Peter’s father, Richard Parker.

One of the few constants with Spider-Man is the fact that he’s an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. His parents are always killed when he’s a young boy. The comics once toyed with the idea of Richard and Mary Parker still being alive, but that was revealed to be a ruse. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man flips the script by revealing that his father is not only alive, but imprisoned for a mysterious crime.

This raises all sorts of questions for the future of the series. Why is Richard in prison? Is Mary Parker still alive, too? Did Richard have something to do with his wife’s death? And why is May skulking about and hiding the fact that she’s visiting Richard? We assume Peter knows his father is alive (that’s too big a secret to just keep from a child), but does Peter have any sort of relationship with him?

We imagine Season 2 will address those questions and explore exactly what it means for this version of Spider-Man to be a teen with a living, breathing father. Richard clearly has an interest in what Peter has been up to, but does he have Peter’s best interests at heart? And how does he feel about a man like Norman Osborn becoming a father figure to Peter? There’s plenty of juicy drama to mine in Season 2, especially if Richard winds up becoming an antagonistic force in Peter’s life. Heck, for all we know, he’s the one that becomes Venom or Green Goblin.

What do you think about the major changes introduced in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Season 1? Which iconic Spider-Man villain do you most hope to see in Season 2? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments below:

For more on Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, check out IGN’s full review of Season 1 and learn why one Spider-Man moment is key to the series’ success.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Presidents’ Day video game deals may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some worthy discounts to check out. If you’ve had Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on your radar to add to your collection of physical games, we’ve got good news: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch is on sale right now at Amazon.

Each copy has varying discounts, though. The Xbox Series X version is currently 23% off, dropping its price to $45.99, the Nintendo Switch version is 16% off, dropping its price to $50.40, and the PlayStation 5 version is 9% off with a price tag of $54.50. Regardless of the price, though, we consider this game a “shining example of how to remake a classic RPG” in our review, so pick it up at a discount for your collection today.

Save up to 23% on Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Team Jade’s Delta Force: Hawk Ops revival was always planned to be an ambitious attempt at the modern military shooter in three distinct flavors: large scale tactical team-vs.-team multiplayer; Escape from Tarkov-inspired extraction shooter; and a focused, high-energy single-player campaign. The Warfare and Operations modes launched last year to mostly positive reception, but the single-player campaign – a remake of the original Black Hawk Down game inspired by the 1999 book that inspired the 2001 movie – was still in the oven cooking up a lot of intrigue. I finally got some hands-on time with a small selection of missions ahead of its launch, and while I can confidently say that it does genuinely capture the spirit of an old-school, turn-of-the-century shooter campaign, there are still enough unanswered questions that being guardedly optimistic is the only answer I could come up with after my time with it.

It’s going to be pretty tough for people who didn’t play the original game 20 years ago to compare it to Team Jade’s modern interpretation directly, since it’s not currently available digitally and physical copies of the old PC, PS2, and Xbox versions are becoming more and more scarce every year. But I was one of those people who was wading in the waves of the military shooter revolution at the time – the first Call of Duty launched the same year as Black Hawk Down, and Battlefield 1942 dropped the year prior. But I distinctly remember Black Hawk Down having some standout gameplay features that really raised the bar for the genre as a whole. It featured big, sprawling level maps that offer multiple ways to approach objectives. Some mission sequences would change dramatically depending on the current task, taking you from the back of a humvee to an on-foot stand-off with ambushers to a hurried escape via helicopter, all in the same chapter. And bullet physics and gun handling, specifically the more realistic projectile speeds, bullet drops, lethality, and recoil, made skirmishes less arcadey and more dangerous. Mixed with absolutely arid checkpointing, NovaLogic’s Black Hawk Down was one of the toughest games in the genre.

Team Jade’s Black Hawk Down certainly comes from a place of reverence for the old game, obvious in the way it tries to capture this old style of shooting in its missions, and also in the effusive praise game director Shadow and designer Novak laid on the other old work. “When we played the original in cafes so many years ago, it was mind-blowing,” said Joe Meng, PR Manager of Team Jade, translating on Shadow’s behalf.

Playing the initial mission, where we infiltrated the city in search of the enemy stronghold via a rooftop from a building nearby, the tense exchanges of fire between my squad of four (all played by other humans in co-op) and the enemies proved that keeping bullets dangerous was a top priority in their translation. It didn’t take much to drop us to dangerously low health, and that health did not restore itself after being out of combat for a bit. Only specific health restoratives could get us back to ship shape, and only medics – one of the four classes available to choose from – could provide them.

Once we got out to the street, progress became slightly less linear. This isn’t an open-world map, and there was a clear target that we had to infiltrate, but the path there felt open-ended. My squad, split into pairs, tiptoed down both sides of the street, following some NPC teammates in clearing buildings we passed on our way to the objective, in this case a hotel under control of rebels who were holding hostages somewhere in the building. We entered the building through the front, where the heaviest fire was being exchanged from the lobby plaza to our entrenched spot in the entrance. We could have found a side door and attempted to flank the lobby shooters as well, I found out later, and though you don’t have Hitman-levels of freedom, it is refreshing to know that if this Black Hawk Down has difficult chokepoints, the answer may lie in just finding a safer route. Shadow mentioned that the feeling of relief and reward for overcoming stacked odds was a driving sensation in the design, and this was a great example of it.

This mission was a little more linear than the next one we tried, which saw us sprinting through a claustrophobic shanty town attempting to get to the crashed Black Hawk helicopters. The mission’s pace and setting was very reminiscent of the original’s Valiant Heroes mission, which features a maze of buildings players had to navigate while freeing stranded friendly soldiers from incoming militia. Both used the labyrinth as an advantage for the enemies, who could pop out from around corners without warning, but where the original made you differentiate between hostile militia members and disgruntled civilians (penalizing you for harming the latter), this updated mission treated everyone in the branching alleyways or dusty markets that wasn’t you as an enemy.

Team Jade’s take does add snipers who can shoot at players from long distances from the relative safety of a clock tower several blocks away, uses modern environment design trends to make the city dense with small, open shacks and streets to navigate, and checkpoints that bottleneck the sprawling neighborhoods into points of entrenched resistance where more direct assault is required to continue. This was where the difficulty was its most intense, as enemies appeared from all directions, constantly moving while obscured by buildings and searching diligently for angles to take us by surprise.

I did miss the detail of having to show some semblance of trigger discipline under these conditions, though. It was certainly engaging and fun, but even in the face of the obvious danger, it felt like a step backwards from the kind of provocative design of the original. And in our limited test, we only tried out two of the seven total missions in the campaign, but neither gave the sense of dynamic scenario switching like the original’s River Raid, which starts as an on foot trek across the desert, turns into a frantic car chase through a minefield, then transforms into a Metal Gear Solid 3-esque tiptoe through the a Somalian river full of crocodiles, and then finally finishes with a multi-stage raid on a village. Of course this, or something equally as energetic, could be in the full three- to four-hour campaign, and I won’t discount the remake’s dedication to the original’s boldness of mission design before deploying myself when it launches on February 21st.

For the last 20 years Capcom’s Monster Hunter series has captured fans’ hearts with its exhilarating mix of careful strategy and heart-pounding monster battles. From its humble beginnings on the PlayStation 2 in 2004 to topping the charts in 2018 with Monster Hunter World, the series has evolved a lot in the last two decades.

While every Monster Hunter game is unique in its own way, we’ve ranked the entire list of games plus the biggest DLCs, to determine which is the very best. One note to consider – given that Capcom has released multiple versions of some of the games, our ranking only takes into consideration the Ultimate versions of each of these. So with that cleared up, let’s kick things off…

10. Monster Hunter

The original Monster Hunter laid the foundation for everything to come in the 20 years that followed. Its obtuse directions and control scheme might make it harder to revisit than most of the other games on this list, but the core pillars of what makes Monster Hunter great are still present. Taking on larger-than-life beasts with nothing but a weapon and a knack for survival helped set it apart in 2004, even if its steep learning curve made it a somewhat frustrating experience for players at the time.

Developed as part of an initiative at Capcom to focus on online games for the PlayStation 2, Monster Hunter’s primary focus is through its online event missions. While it’s a bummer that official servers are no longer online outside of Japan, the single-player still lets players experience the hunts that kicked off a new genre.

9. Monster Hunter Freedom

Monster Hunter Freedom released on the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2005, and followed everywhere else a year later. It was the first handheld game in the series and is an expanded and re-tuned version of Monster Hunter G.

Although Freedom includes everything from Monster Hunter G and adds in a number of quality of life improvements, the biggest jump was giving Monster Hunter a new home on a portable device. It was the catalyst that pushed Monster Hunter to a whole new audience, putting co-op front and center and bringing together millions of players as they teamed up to hunt, no matter where they were.

Despite its clunky controls and wonky camera – which really demonstrate how far the games have evolved – Freedom is still a lot of fun to play. True, it’s not the best Monster Hunter game but it’s certainly one of the most important, and became the blueprint for the future of the series’ handheld games.

8. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is an expanded version of Monster Hunter Freedom 2, which itself is an expanded version of Monster Hunter 2, which was only released in Japan. It was easily the largest game in the series when it was released and introduced new monsters that have gone on to become high points for the series, including black panther-cross-lizard wyvern, Nargacuga. It was also the first time the much-loved Felyne companions joined you on the battlefield, and while they might not have helped overcome some of Freedom Unite’s tougher challenges, they made the journey a lot more enjoyable.

7. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was built off of the bones of 2010’s Monster Hunter Tri, but with a restructured story and difficulty curve to create a more streamlined experience that included new monsters and quests to keep things fresh. Furthermore, Ultimate 3 brought back the Hunting Horn, Bow, Gunlance, and Dual Blades – which were missing from Tri – to give a more rounded roster of weapons for players to wield.

It’s therefore no surprise that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the definitive Monster Hunter 3 experience. New encounters like underwater fighting added a lot of variety to keep everything feeling fresh, even if you had to wrestle with the camera to make it work properly. And while online multiplayer on the Wii U was not as advanced as it was on other consoles, co-op is so integral to the Monster Hunter experience that its inclusion was a must.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the natural evolution of everything that came before it and is a strong contender for one of the better monster hunting experiences. It’s showing its age now though, leaving room for other games…

6. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate marked an important turning point for the series. While local co-op was always Monster Hunter’s bread and butter on handheld consoles, dedicated online multiplayer finally arrived in 4 Ultimate, delivering a true leap forward for the series. Now it didn’t matter where your friends were – as long as everyone had access to wifi you could party up and take on a hunt from anywhere in the world.

Additionally, Capcom debuted Apex Monsters to give skilled players true endgame challenges to test their mettle against, and these are easily some of the toughest fights in the series to date. Other improvements included a huge roster of monsters to hunt and the addition of vertical movement, which transformed how the game played and almost doubled the size of the map. Monster Hunter 4 really was a leap forward for the series, but it’s still not the best the series has to offer.

5. Monster Hunter Rise

2021’s Monster Hunter Rise brought the series back home to handhelds after jumping to consoles and PC with Monster Hunter World in 2018. Originally exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, Rise took what Capcom learned from making bigger-scale Monster Hunter games on consoles and refined them for handhelds, delivering a faster-paced game with more streamlined features for a smoother overall experience.

Monster Hunter Rise introduced Palamutes, the rideable dog companions that allowed for easier and speedier movement around Rise’s maps. It was a welcomed addition that Capcom seems to be repeating, by bringing back Seikrets in Monster Hunter Wilds. Combined with the new Wirebug mechanic, which unlocked new weapon attacks and let you grapple high up into the air like your favorite anime protagonist, Rise brought a sense of scale previously only found on the console versions of Monster Hunter games.

Whether it was decimating monsters with acrobatic stunts or soaking up the serene vibe of Kamura Village, Monster Hunter Rise proves that, after scaling up for Monster Hunter World, all those big design ideas could be scaled down to create one of the best handheld Monster Hunter experiences in the entire series.

4. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

The follow up to Monster Hunter Rise was a massive expansion called Sunbreak, which added an all new location, ferocious new monsters, and a revised weapons system that added freshness to the fights. While Sunbreak doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it makes Rise’s already amazing experience even better.

Perhaps the most memorable thing about Sunbreak is how Capcom delivered full-fledged gothic horror vibes thanks to the new Citadel castle location and fascinating monster designs inspired by vampires and werewolves. It also addressed the series’ previous lack of endgame content by adding super tough hunts designed to challenge even the most experienced players.

Sunbreak’s gothic setting might be one of the most beautiful locales ever introduced in the series but the true brilliance of this monster-sized expansion remains the final fight against the vampiric flagship monster, Malzeno, and the horrors of its life-stealing abilities.

3. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

In many ways, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is Capcom’s swansong to the last decade of Monster Hunter games. Alongside a hugely satisfying customization suite for hunters, Generations Ultimate also features the largest roster of monsters across the entire series. With 93 large monsters, Generations Ultimate is like a greatest hits from your favorite band.

Unlike most other Monster Hunter games, Generations Ultimate features Hunter Styles, which can radically change the way you play. In addition to the usual weapon types, Hunting Styles gave every weapon four unique movesets to choose from, dramatically increasing the fighting styles on offer. Veteran players could stick with the standard Guild style they’re familiar with, or experiment with new styles like Striker, which let players chain together Hunting Arts, turning them into special moves to learn and master.

This deep level of customization was hugely experimental and tremendously fun. Combined with endless hours of hunts, Generations Ultimate is a victory lap for the series, a triumphant showpiece of the iconic monster designs and the joys of playing with friends and family.

2. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Capcom followed up the hugely successful Monster Hunter World with the large-scale expansion, Iceborne, and to this day it remains our second-favorite Monster Hunter experience in the entire series. Iceborne’s massive new campaign and long list of hunts makes it feel like a proper sequel to World rather than just an expansion.

The Guiding Lands – a hodgepodge of previous zones mashed together – created an entirely seamless experience that felt like a highlight reel of all the best parts of Monster Hunter World in one area. It also added countless quality-of-life improvements to what was already one of the best games in the series.

But it was Iceborne’s new monsters that really stuck with fans, and Savage Deviljho, Velkhana, and Fatalis are considered by many to be some of the best monsters in any game in the series. Indeed, Iceborne could’ve made it to the top spot in this list if it wasn’t for the original game that came before it…

1. Monster Hunter: World

2018’s Monster Hunter: World kicked off a global frenzy for Monster Hunter like no other game in the series. After years of primarily being a handheld game and labeled with the caveat “Big in Japan”, World brought the series back to its console roots on PlayStation and Xbox, and rocketed it to an entirely new audience.

Monster Hunter: World’s foundation was rock solid because it offered players some of the largest open zones in the series and emphasized the pure excitement hunters have while tracking and hunting enormous monsters. Indeed, it’s Monster Hunter: World’s sense of scale that sets head and shoulders above its peers. Whether it’s seeing a Rathalos swooping down and flying away with a weakened Anjanath, or witnessing a Diablos burst in on your hunt, Monster Hunter: World didn’t just create a breathtaking setting to play around in, it made you feel like you were in the middle of a sophisticated ecosystem of apex predators all fighting for supremacy.

From the dense jungle to the high cliffs of the Coral Highlands, exploring World’s diverse environments felt like traveling the globe, bolstered by unique monsters designed to perfectly compliment its surroundings. There is a sense of place for everything, including the endemic life that makes Monster Hunter: World almost like a nature documentary, except, y’know, fun. What’s more, Monster Hunter: World’s story was given a much needed facelift thanks to high quality cutscenes made possible by running on more powerful home consoles, which only added to the brilliant sandbox world.

So World is not only a must-have for both fans of Monster Hunter and newcomers alike, but it’s an all-time great video game period.

That’s our ranking of the 10 best Monster Hunter games of all time. Which ones have you played, and which do you think are the best? Tell us your ranking in the Tier List above. Will you be preparing to hunt again with the release of Monster Hunter Wilds? Let us know in the comments.

Jesse Vitelli is a freelance writer and published author. A former associate editor at Prima Games, he also has bylines at Kotaku, Inverse, Game Informer, and more.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 lineup, which kicked off with Obsidian entertainment’s single-player fantasy role-playing game Avowed on February 18.

On February 20, EA Sports F1 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on EA Play. IGN’s F1 24 review returned a 7/10. We said: “In isolation, F1 24 remains a slick, deep, and marvellous motorsports experience, but it’s hard to argue it’s essential for returning players.”

Also on February 20, the well-received Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) enters Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an isometric RPG by Owlcat Games, set in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium,” reads the official blurb. “As a powerful Rogue Trader, you command a starship, assemble a crew, and explore the Imperium, making fateful decisions in tactical, turn-based combat.” IGN’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader review returned an 8/10.

Here’s a big one: on February 25, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. “Explore a massive urban open world featuring London’s many iconic landmarks and fun side activities where you can recruit (and play as) anyone. Everyone you see has a unique backstory, personality, and skill set for unique situations. Team up with your friends to complete new four-player co-op missions and PvP matches online.” IGN’s Watch Dogs: Legion review returned an 8/10.

Xbox Game Pass February 2025 Wave 2 lineup

• EA Sports F1 24 (Cloud, Console, and PC) EA Play – February 20
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – February 20
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• Watch Dogs: Legion (Cloud, Console, and PC) – February 25
  Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

As usual, a number of games leave Game Pass this month as new games enter the subscription. You can use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase to keep a game in your library.

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on February 28

• F1 22 (Console and PC) EA Play
• Gris (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Maneater (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• PAW Patrol World (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Space Engineers (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Wo Long Fallen Dynasty (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Yakuza 3 Remastered (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Yakuza 4 Remastered (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo is discontinuing its Switch eShop Gold Points scheme ahead of the launch of the Switch 2.

From the end of next month, March 25, 2025, players will no longer earn Gold Points — Nintendo’s points-based loyalty scheme that can be exchanged for discounts — on their purchases.

Nintendo did not expand on why it was removing the scheme, but said in a statement that players will continue to earn points on products purchased before March 24 — including physical Game Cards — and could be used up to 12 months from the date they were earned. Any game released after the deadline will not be eligible. (You can check original release date of a game on Nintendo eShop).

As spotted by Eurogamer, Nintendo has also confirmed Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers will not be redeemable against Switch 2 exclusive games in the future, either.

These changes come ahead of the launch of the Switch 2 itself, currently speculated for some point between June and September, and the Switch 2-focused Direct in April. Nintendo has already confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online accounts will carry forward to the next-gen console.

Earlier this month, we reported there was something goofy going on over on the PlayStation Store and the Nintendo eShop. Over the last few months, the two storefronts have been slowly filling up with what some users are referring to as “eslop,” with more and more games tricking users into buying cheap, low-quality games that aren’t what they claim to be.

Buying games from the Japanese eShop as a foreigner without a Japanese bank account recently got a lot harder. Nintendo announced it would no longer accept “credit cards issued overseas” and “PayPal accounts opened overseas” from January 25, 2025 in a bid to curb “fraudulent use.”

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Call of Duty’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover looks set to cost up to $90’s worth of COD Points in order to obtain all the items — and the community is now saying Activision should just make Black Ops 6 free-to-play at this point.

Activision unveiled the Black Ops 6 Season 02 Reloaded content coming to the shooter on February 20, and detailed the mid-season Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in the process.

Each of the four turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael) has their own premium bundle. Based on previous collaborations, these bundles are expected to cost 2,400 COD Points, or $19.99, each. So, if you want all four turtles you face the prospect of handing over $80’s worth of COD Points.

Surprise! Valve’s just released a massive update to the Source SDK, adding “all” the Team Fortress 2 client and server game code.

Valve said the update lets players build entirely new games from its source code, and unlike Steam Workshop or local content mods, it gives modders access to change, extend, and even rewrite Team Fortress in pretty much any way imaginable.

You won’t be able to sell anything you make with it — which means any mods or spin-off content will have to be released for free on a non-commercial basis — but creations can be published on the Steam Store, “appearing as new games in the Steam game list.”

“Players have a lot of investment in their TF2 inventories, and Steam Workshop contributors have created a lot of that content,” Valve explained via a blog post. “The majority of items in the game now are thanks to the hard work of the TF2 community.

“To respect that, we’re asking TF2 mod makers continue to respect that connection, and to not make mods that have the purpose of trying to profit off Workshop contributors’ efforts. We’re hoping that many mods will continue to allow players access their TF2 inventory, if this makes sense for the mod.”

Valve also added that it was making “a big update” to all its multiplayer back-catalog Source engine titles, too, adding 64-bit binary support, scalable HUD/UI, prediction fixes, and “a lot of other improvements” to not only TF2, but also DoD:S, HL2:DM, CS:S, and HLDM:S.

Back in December, after seven long years, The Team Fortress 2 comic released its seventh and final update. The comics have not only been a great place for fans to uncover new information about their favorite characters and stories, but they’re also a testament to Valve’s own continuing interest in one of its oldest series.

Image credit: Valve.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The Elder Scrolls 6 fans are, a bit like Grand Theft Auto 6 fans, starved of information. And so perhaps it comes as no surprise to see the community go into release date speculation mode with only an official create a character competition to go on.

This week, Bethesda announced its next Make-A-Wish project: you can bid on a chance to work with Bethesda Game Studios to create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6.

“For the last several years, we have been lucky enough to work with Make-A-Wish to grant wishes, support some of their local events, and provide items and experiences, all to benefit children who are fighting life-threatening illnesses,” Bethesda said.

“This year, for their Silent Auction we are giving one winner the opportunity to work with Bethesda Game Studios to create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6. All of the money made from the auction goes directly to Make-A-Wish.”

It’s a wonderful cause and a great initiative from Bethesda, but for The Elder Scrolls 6 fans it could mean a whole lot more. And that’s because the community is comparing this Make-A-Wish project to the one Bethesda ran for Starfield, and have determined the point in development The Elder Scrolls 6 may be in currently, and thus its potential release date.

I know, the community has gone off the deep end here. But let’s run with it… for science.

The appropriately named redditor ‘FartingSlowly’ pointed out that Bethesda’s equivalent ‘chance to make a Starfield character’ post was published two-and-a-half years before Starfield came out in September 2023. Ergo, The Elder Scrolls 6’s release date is set for September 2027. More specifically, September 27, 2027.

“This is not a good indicator or metric for release by any standards,” FartingSlowly admitted. “Do not take this too seriously. But. It is finally something. It isn’t just a piece of junk speculation based on nothing, it’s based on something from Bethesda themselves. Yeah, it’s not something to actually care about but it is a refreshing change in the world of speculation.”

As you’d expect, many within the community have cast similar doubt on the release date suggested by FartingSlowly. Some have pointed out that Starfield’s Make-A-Wish competition was announced when the game was due out November 11, 2022. Does that mean Bethesda is looking at releasing The Elder Scrolls 6 in November 2026?

It’s been a long, long time since Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6. In January, The Elder Scrolls 6’s June 10, 2018 announcement became as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced.

The studio confirmed The Elder Scrolls 6 had entered “early development” in August 2023, and “early builds” were available in March 2024. The six year anniversary of the announcement arrived in June last year and even Bethesda development chief Todd Howard paused to say, “oh wow, that has been a while.”

The Elder Scrolls 6 was thought to be set for 2028 at the earliest, presumably on the next-generation of consoles as well as PC. If it does launch then, it’ll do so an incredible 17 years after Skyrim. While we wait to find out, check out Everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game division to Saudi-owned Scopely for $3.5 billion.

As first reported by Bloomberg, the sale would likely include Pokémon Go, the hit augmented-reality mobile game that sends players out into the real world to collect Pokémon.

A source talking to Bloomberg under the promise of anonymity said that while the deal was by no means complete, if approved, it could be confirmed in a matter of weeks.

Neither Niantic, Scopely, nor its owner Savvy Games Group were prepared to comment publicly on the reported acquisition.

Savvy Games Group acquired Scopely back in April 2023 in a deal worth $4.9 billion that came after the Saudi Arabia government said it wanted to buy “a leading games publisher.” Scopely publishes a range of hit mobile titles, most notably The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Stumble Guys, Marvel Strike Force, and Monopoly Go.

Savvy Gaming Group also purchased two of the world’s biggest esports companies, ESL and FACEIT, for a total of $1.5 billion in 2022.

“Savvy Games Group is one part of our ambitious strategy aiming to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said at the time.

“We are harnessing the untapped potential across the esports and games sector to diversify our economy, drive innovation in the sector, and further scale the entertainment and esports competition offerings across the Kingdom.”

Vikki Blake. Reporter. Critic. Columnist. Consultant. Guardian. Spartan. Silent Hillian. Legend. High Chaos.