A brand-new open-world roguelite is on the way, and it has some major Skyrim vibes based on its intial trailer. Titled Ravenbound, Systemic Reaction's newest game will let you take flight over its expansive world, which draws heavily from Scandinavian folklore.

Ravenbound bills itself as having the "challenge of a roguelite" and the "choices of open world," inviting you to explore its large fantasy world either on foot or in the sky as a raven. Being a roguelite, Ravenbound will feature both randomization and permanent death, with deck-building mechanics being included for good measure Ravenbound mixes these elements with "fast-paced, up-close combat" against a variety of fantasy-themed enemies.

Ravenbound is being developed by Systemic Reaction, a veteran studio within the Avalanche Studios Group that has previously worked on Generation Zero and Second Extinction. We gave Generation Zero low marks for being "buggy and poorly-designed," but Second Extinction fared better as an "intense three-player cooperative shooter."

Ravenbound, for its part, takes Systemic Reaction into new territory.

"It's really exciting to be entering a new genre for Systemic Reaction," lead game designer Simon Laserna says. "It's been a fun challenge to combine our open-world legacy with roguelite mechanics and the monsters from the Swedish woods!"

Roguelites remain extremely popular with smaller developers, with Cult of the Lamb among those receiving critical acclaim. In mixing these elements with open-world exploration and Skyrim's distinctive look, Systemic Reaction hopes to have a winner.

Ravenbound is currently under development for release on Steam. It does not yet have a release date.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

The James Webb Space Telescope has snapped a glorious new planetary vista capturing the complex layers of Jupiter’s cloud surface, its delicate ring system, and two of its photobombing moons.

The JWST, which snapped images of Jupiter on July 27, is particularly fascinating because it specializes in capturing a type of light that would ordinarily be invisible to our human eyes. Light is, essentially, a form of radiation that travels in waves. Our eyes have evolved over billions of years to be able to detect certain frequencies of light in what we have come to know as the ‘visible’ part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

However, there are many other frequencies of light such as X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared light that are beyond our sensory capabilities to detect.

Thankfully, humanity is now advanced enough to create sensors that can detect these invisible frequencies of light, and scientists are able to take the raw data collected by telescopes such as the JWST and assign these phantom wavelengths colors from the visible spectrum. This essentially allows us to perceive the invisible, and gain a more complete understanding of the cosmos.

By analyzing these different wavelengths of light, astronomers can probe the characteristics of stars and nebulae millions of light years from Earth. Closer to home, it also makes for some pretty outstanding planetary photography.

The new image of Jupiter was captured using the JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) using a range of three infrared filters. The longer wavelengths of light - which represents light reflected from Jupiter’s clouds, haze, and aurora - are made to appear redder, while the shorter wavelengths that represent light from deeper clouds have been mapped to appear blueish. A third filter that highlights the polar aurora is mapped to yellower and greener hues.

Citizen scientist Judy Schmit was primarily responsible for combining the multiple shots from the JWST and mapping the infrared colors to visible wavelengths in order to create the new composite image. Jupiter’s rotational speed and the motion of its ever shifting atmosphere made this a challenging prospect, which at times required Schmit to make slight digital alterations to the images to allow them to fit together.

We now know that Jupiter is a gas giant twice as massive as all of the other planet’s in our Solar System put together, and that its roiling cloud surface plays host to storms that have raged uninterrupted for over a century. The greatest of these vortexes - a gargantuan storm known as the Great Red Spot - is so massive that you could easily fit two Earth-sized planets in its expanse.

“The brightness here indicates high altitude, so the Great Red Spot has high-altitude hazes, as does the equatorial region,” said Webb interdisciplinary scientist for solar system observations and vice president for science at AURA, Heidi Hammel. “The numerous bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms.”

In the wide-field version of the image, two of Jupiter’s smaller moons - Amalthea and Adrastea - become visible, as do the gas giant’s tenuous rings. The Jovian system is currently being explored up close and personal by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, and is also due to be visited by the Europa Clipper in the coming decade.

This mission will attempt to see beneath the thick icy shell of one of Jupiter’s moons to shed light on whether its global subsurface ocean could play host to extraterrestrial life.

When the Romans looked up at the ancient night sky, they gazed upon the planets and named them after their gods. The mighty gas giant Jupiter was named for the king of that pantheon, and it's easy to see why.

Back in antiquity, the planet would have been seen as little more than a brilliant, bright point in the darkness, as it roved back and forth across the heavens. Thankfully, the advent of modern astronomy has allowed us to better understand Jupiter’s true nature, and to observe its ever changing face in exquisite detail.

Anthony Wood is a Freelance science writer for IGN.

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard was almost a live service game filled with microtransactions according to Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi.

Speaking with horror game veteran Shinji Mikami (and spotted by VGC), Takeuchi said there was a big marketing push at Capcom to make a game that “players are asking for”. At the time, this meant making a game with live service features, microtransactions, and other online elements.

"We were being told ‘make this, make that’," Takeuchi said. "It was really hard on the directors at the time. Online multiplayer this, downloadable content that. Ongoing service games. Microtransactions. 'Make a Resident Evil game that ticks all those boxes [they were told]'."

There were so many demands placed on the directors that Capcom president Kenzo Tsujimoto eventually intervened. He called Takeuchi to say the current state of Resident Evil 7 was not good.

When Takeuchi joined the development team, he also wanted to appoint Koshi Nakanishi as the game’s director, saying that he was the best one on staff at the time.

"First, we decided that Resident Evil’s roots are in horror. We talked about it a lot," Takeuchi said. "The idea of multiplayer got killed off pretty quickly. If we could properly put it together we could make an exciting horror multiplayer game, but we didn’t really have any good ideas so we set it aside.

"We went down the list, chopping them out until we had marketing’s worst nightmare: a regular old single-player horror game. That’s what we ended up with. What we ultimately wanted to make was exactly what you were saying, Mikami-san: a game that’s scary for the players and the creators."

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard wound up garnering good review scores and bringing the series back to form, however. In our Resident Evil 7 Biohazard review, IGN said, “Resident Evil 7 grounds itself in elements that made the original great while still indulging in a risky new shift in style that both helps and hurts the beloved formula in equal measure.”

Speaking of multiplayer though, Capcom’s newest attempt, Resident Evil Re:Verse, will finally launch on October 28 after being delayed multiple times. It was originally intended to release alongside Resident Evil Village last year.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

The epic Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power just got its official trailer, showing off characters including Galadriel, Durin IV, and more.

Whether it’s sweeping elven vistas, underground dwarven cities, or orcs and goblins tearing through the woods, the new trailer (below) for The Rings of Power gives us a glimpse of an era of Middle-earth we’ve never seen on screen before.

We also meet Durin IV (Owain Arthur), the dwarven prince of Khazad-dûm in the midst of finding his feet and working out where he fits into his eventual kingdom. Then there’s the Hobbits, a family of Harfoots with youngster Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) eager for adventure.

While we'll see a lighter side through some of these characters, the trailer also features a stark warning that hints toward the inevitable rise of Sauron.

A prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the upcoming Amazon Prime show will take us back in history to a time thousands of years before The Hobbit, and it looks as though it’ll be packed full of fantasy action and adventure.

Having been in the works for years, The Rings of Power finally debuts next week on September 2. Of course, it brings with it the hype and anticipation of a legion of J.R.R. Tolkien fans, and thankfully, it looks as though they might approve.

It stars Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Sophia Nomvete, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Lenny Henry, Markella Kavenagh, Sara Zwangobani, Megan Richards, Daniel Weyman, Charles Edwards, and many more.

Want to read more about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Check out when you can watch new episodes of The Rings of Power as well as who’s who of the new elves, dwarves, and hobbits.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

2022 has proven to be another banner year for the comic book horror genre, and Comixology is throwing its hat into that arena once more with Blood Oath. IGN can exclusively reveal the latest addition to the Comixology Originals library.

Blood Oath is a collaboration between writers Alex Segura (The Black Ghost) and Rob Hart (The Paradox Hotel), with art by Joe Eisma (Morning Glories). Set in Prohibition-era Long Island, the series focuses on struggling farmer Hazel Crenshaw. Hazel has taken to bootlegging to keep her family farm afloat. And as if New York's growing mob problem wasn't enough of a problem, Hazel also has to contend with a supernatural force tightening its grip on the criminal underworld.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive preview of Blood Oath #1:

The Blood Oath creative team also includes colorist Hilary Jenkins, letterer Jim Campbell and editor Heather Antos.

“It's always been a dream of mine to write a comic book, but coming from novels, it's like learning a whole new language,” said Hart in Comixology's press release. “I was incredibly lucky to work with Alex, Joe, and the rest of the team, who helped guide me through the process and learn the fundamentals. Alex and I first started working on this years ago, and it's incredible watching it come together, piece by piece. I can't wait for people to read it.”

Segura continued, “Rob and I have been cooking up this story for a long time, and we found the perfect artistic partner in Joe, who I’ve worked with numerous times as a writer and editor over the years. He’s passionate and super-talented. We’re excited for readers to meet Hazel, Walt, Geraldine and the entire Blood Oath crew. Who knows if they’ll survive!”

Blood Oath will run for five issues, with the first chapter debuting on Comixology on Tuesday, August 30. As with all Comixology Originals titles, Blood Oath will be free to read for subscribers of Comixology Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited, and will also be available for individual purchase.

That's not the only Segura-penned comic launching on August 30. That date also marks the start of The Black Ghost: Season 2 on Comixology Unlimited. For those that prefer print comics to digital, Dark Horse will release a trade paperback collection called The Black Ghost: Shame the Devil on January 3, 2023. The first volume, The Black Ghost: Hard Revolution, is available now.

You can learn more about the very personal inspirations behind The Black Ghost in IGN's exclusive conversation between Segura and Youth writer Curt Pires. IGN also recently debuted a preview of Pires' latest Comixology series, a futuristic political thriller called New America.

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

Sega itself appears to have leaked a November release date for Sonic Frontiers after a new trailer for the game appeared on YouTube before being swiftly taken down.

Industry insider Nibel spotted the new trailer (below), grabbing a screenshot of its title screen that shows a November 8 release date. This matches the previously mapped fourth quarter of 2022 release window given by Sega, though the publisher hasn't explicitly confirmed this new date as of yet.

The trailer was publicly available on the Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel for just a few minutes before it was quickly made private (and therefore unviewable) again. It's likely the trailer that Sega planned to release during Gamescom that was teased by the game's official Twitter account yesterday, August 22.

A new Japanese Sonic Frontiers ad includes a November 8 release datehttps://t.co/Y6moP1tQVT pic.twitter.com/suJeGqPmUt

— Nibel (@Nibellion) August 23, 2022

Confirming it would be revealed today, August 23, the trailer will likely be officially revealed during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, as host Geoff Keighley has already confirmed that Sonic Frontiers will make an appearance.

IGN will be providing live coverage of the entire two hour show, which takes place at 11AM Pacific / 2PM Eastern / 7PM UK (and therefore 4AM AEST), and is also hosting an After Show with our own exclusive reveals, interviews, and deep dives surrounding the biggest announcements.

Sonic Frontiers is the franchise's first "open-zone" game that promises an extensive story, unique combat, and a whole new take on 3D sonic games.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Upcoming animated series Batman: Caped Crusader won’t be coming to HBO Max. According to TV Line, the show from Bruce Timm, Matt Reeves, and J.J. Abrams is one of six animated titles that have been pulled from HBO Max’s upcoming slate and will no longer be produced by the company.

However, all six will continue production with the intention of shopping them to other studios.

Announced last year, Batman: Caped Crusader is an interesting project – seemingly taking inspiration from Timm’s earlier work on the hugely popular Batman: The Animated Series.

“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City,” said the three producers in a joint statement. “The series will be thrilling, cinematic, and evocative of Batman’s noir roots while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.”

Considering Batman: The Animated Series appeared on HBO Max back in January, it felt like a slam dunk for the Warner Bros-owned online streaming service. After all, fans have been clamouring for more episodes of The Animated Series for as long as I can remember.

However, it looks as though HBO Max parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is continuing its cost-cutting mission as it prunes projects across the board.

A side effect of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the company has been cancelling projects left, right, and centre since the high-profile cancelation of Batgirl. We’ve seen 36 shows recently removed from the service as well as over 200 episodes of Sesame Street taken down.

Thought to be a cost-cutting measure, the cancelation and removal of shows is paving the way for the merger of HBO Max and Discovery+, the company’s two streaming services which are now set to become one.

Want to read more about Batman’s animated projects? Check out how The Batman adapts the Batmobile from The Animated Series, as well as which DC shows and movies could be affected by the recent Batgirl cancelation.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan says he likes Walter White less and less as time goes on, and fans should actually have more sympathy for Skyler.

Speaking to The New Yorker, the 55-year-old writer and director explained that, over the course of the series and the years following its conclusion, his respect and patience for White has lessened to the point where he can't see any appeal at all.

“The further away I get from Breaking Bad, the less sympathy I have for Walter,” Gilligan said. “He got thrown a lifeline early on. And, if he had been a better human being, he would’ve swallowed his pride and taken the opportunity to treat his cancer with the money his former friends offered him. He goes out on his own terms, but he leaves a trail of destruction behind him. I focus on that more than I used to.”

One of Gilligan’s main complaints is that the “spell” of Walter White soon wears off and you’re left wondering why you liked him in the first place.

“Like, wait a minute, why was this guy so great?” Gilligan asked. “He was really sanctimonious, and he was really full of himself. He had an ego the size of California. And he always saw himself as a victim. He was constantly griping about how the world short-changed him, how his brilliance was never given its due. When you take all of that into consideration, you wind up saying, ‘Why was I rooting for this guy?'”

While that's half the show's charm for a lot of Breaking Bad viewers, Gilligan thinks some of the fanbase reacted poorly to Skyler, without having much reason to.

“Back when the show first aired, Skyler was roundly disliked,” he said. “I think that always troubled Anna Gunn [who played Skyler]. And I can tell you it always troubled me, because Skyler, the character, did nothing to deserve that. And Anna certainly did nothing to deserve that. She played the part beautifully.”

The actress herself published an editorial about this reaction in The New York Times, and now Gilligan says he feels that the story was always rigged against her.

“I realize in hindsight that the show was rigged, in the sense that the storytelling was solely through Walt’s eyes, even in scenes he wasn’t present for,” he said. “Even Gus [played by Giancarlo Esposito], his archenemy, didn’t suffer the animosity Skyler received. It’s a weird thing. I’m still thinking about it all these years later.”

Want to read more about Breaking Bad? Check out what new project Vince Gilligan is working on as well as his pitch for a Breaking bad video game.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel Paprika is getting a live-action adaptation, with Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan helming the project for Amazon Studios and Hivemind.

According to Deadline, the mind-bending 1993 techno-thriller novel will be turned into a live-action series, telling the story of Atsuko Chiba (aka Paprika), a gifted researcher in the developing field of dream monitoring and intervention as a form of psychotherapy.

The novel has already been adapted several times, appearing as a manga by Reiji Hagiwara in 1994 and again by Eri Sakai in 2007. Paprika was also turned into an anime by Satoshi Kon in 2006 with the novel’s original author providing the voice of a bartender.

Yan rose to fame in 2020 after directing Birds of Prey – the Suicide Squad spin-off starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez. This also made Yan the first female Asian director to helm a superhero movie.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” she told NME. “I did not think I was the likely or safe choice by any means. I did not just want to make a superhero movie, I was interested in making a movie about female rage in a way to hit back at the patriarchy, ironically, within a patriarchal system.”

Yan and Ash Sarohia are on board as executive producers under their Rewild banner, alongside Masi Oka as well as Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown.

As for the director’s next project, Yan will both write and direct The Freshening, an upcoming sci-fi love story from author Rachel Khong.

“The Freshening is exactly the type of daring and timely film that excites me as a writer and director, and that Ash and I started Rewild to produce,” Yan told Variety.

Want to read more about anime? Check out our top 25 anime shows of all time, as well as our list of the best anime you’ll find on Netflix right now.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is HBO Max’s biggest premiere ever. The show’s debut episode was watched by 9.986 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max – the largest audience for any new show in HBO’s history.

“It was wonderful to see millions of Game of Thrones fans return with us to Westeros last night,” said HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys. “House of the Dragon features an incredibly talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into the production, and we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response. We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan, and Miguel have in store for them this season.”

The highly anticipated debut was also a huge hit on social media, trending in the top spot on Twitter for a staggering 14 hours straight as fans awaited the new show.

The House of the Dragon premiere was the best series launch to date on HBO Max in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

HBO also saw the largest single-night audience since the Game of Thrones series finale brought in 19.3 million viewers in May 2019. As far as series debuts go, it’s incredibly strong and shows solid support from Game of Thrones fans so far.

House of the Dragon seemingly enjoyed the fanbase built by its predecessor, totally blowing away the Game of Thrones debut which saw just 2.22 million same-day viewers back in 2011. Of course, the original show had no pre-existing fanbase, at least in the TV realm, and House of the Dragon builds upon what HBO has done over the course of the last decade.

The influx of viewers also caused the HBO Max app to crash for many users, with outages stopping some Game of Thrones fans from watching the show’s debut.

IGN’s review of the debut episode called it “a strong, well-cast start to the Game Of Thrones spin-off. This feels very close to its predecessor in tone and content, but immediately establishes a struggle for power around an amiable, weak-willed king, and vivid new characters to fight those battles. We also have dragons, inbreeding, and resentment. It’s good to be back in backstabbing Westeros.”

Want to read more about House of the Dragon? Check out everything we know about House of the Dragon so far, and find out what we know about the Gold Cloaks.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.