Kim’s Multimillion-Dollar Gaming App, Kim Kardashian Hollywood

Kim Kardashian and her team went straight to business and launched Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in 2014. The game went extinct this year, but the Kardashians have been more involved in gaming than you might think. 

After nine running seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim had already gotten deals and partnerships with shoe brands, TV studios, and so much more. Kim’s PR team, along with her mother Kris Jenner, were in touch with Glu Mobile (the publisher of games like Frontline Commando and Deer Hunter) to create Kim’s character-customization gaming app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

The initial premise of the game was to create a character that players used to climb their way to fame and success and earn their “A-celebrity status.” Although predominantly popular among young girls, the game also had the option to create both female and male characters. Players could choose to style them with different hair, shoes, and clothes. 

The game had different levels to get you A-celebrity status, and challenges ranged from having to shop for outfits, attend parties, meet celebrities, do photoshoots, and even deal with the paparazzi. The game gave players rewards like K-fans and K-stars for establishing as many celebrity connections as possible, however crazy this may sound. Kim’s avatar was the one that guided players through different levels by offering little pieces of advice.

According to TMZ, the game generated $85 million for Kim during its first year. But how? External sponsorship and the game’s microtransactions were key elements. In Kardashian style, the game couldn’t go on without selling something. So players could purchase cash and items from the “star shop” to earn K-stars (the game’s other form of currency). However, if players wanted to, they could opt for the free-to-play version instead.

Despite the PR-obsessed nature and controversial takes, in 2019 the game was ranked 82 as one of the best 100 games of the decade by Polygon. The game went on for 10 years total and was finally shut down by April 2024.

Kanye West’s Attempt at a Spiritual Game: Only One

Although not officially a Kardashian, Kim’s ex-husband, Kanye West, tried to leave his mark in the gaming industry. After being a gamer himself and stating his appreciation for music in video games from a young age, Kanye has yet to release an official game.

His closest attempt came when he got in touch with Nintendo executives in 2015. Kanye’s inspiration for a game idea came from his late mother, Donda, who passed in 2007. His idea was revealed at E3 2016, where they showed a trailer for the game idea called Only One.

The trailer showed a group of angels (including Donda) ascending into heaven, either by themselves or a Pegasus-like horse. Kanye and his team also produced the ethereal soundtrack that was meant to be in the game. The idea for the game didn’t reveal much of a plot, but it certainly left fans wanting more. After beginning development with Encyclopedia Pictura, the project was discontinued. 

Kim’s UPS and Downs With Roblox

In 2021, Kim opened up about the nuances of parenting and brought up having to learn how to play Roblox with her kids. Later in 2022, an episode of The Kardashians showed an awkward moment; Kim’s son, Saint West, was playing on his iPad, and an ad for another game came up showing Kim’s face and claiming to release another “sex tape” as clickbait. 

The incident quickly escalated, and Kim subsequently threatened to sue Roblox for the inappropriate advertisement. Roblox representatives took responsibility and diffused the situation by banning the specific game developer who made the racy claim in their ad.

According to Polygon, a Roblox spokesperson publicly replied,

…we have strict moderation and policies to protect our community, including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind which violates our Community Rules. The text reference to the tape that got around our filters was quickly taken down and fortunately visible only to an extremely small number of people on the platform.”

Roblox spokesperson.

Despite the incident, Kim’s family didn’t seem to have an issue with Roblox and kept playing. In 2023, Kim even shared on her social media that her son, Saint, had asked the tooth fairy for Robux (Roblox money) instead of real money. With that said, we’ll just have to wait and see what games this family comes up with in the future.

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is no longer available for Android or iOS as of April 2024.

ZZZ is a feastful affair full of pop, color, and awe—a free-to-play mobile game with a buffet platter of complexity for you to chew on that puts most other mobile games on the market to shame. And as I slid my way through the game’s first chapter, I increasingly kept thinking, “Wow, I’d happily pay tens of dollars for this, actually.” Unfortunately, at the same time, it also became abundantly clear to me that if I wanted to play the game the way it seemingly is meant to be enjoyed, then I’d have to play developer MiHoYo’s game of slots—a dangerous, money-siphoning game that rarely ends with little more than a brain full of frustration and an empty pocket.

Don’t get me wrong, the money-grubbing aspect doesn’t put me off. Zenless Zone Zero is free-to-play, after all, and it’s not really doing anything different than other gacha games. In fact, it’s downright standard. But it feels as if ZZZ’s gacha mechanics rub against the game’s finely-tuned, character-driven gameplay with a friction that can spark a dumpster fire. Simply put, the game’s too well made for its primary feature (team building and monster smacking) to be driven by random-chance collection, which essentially amounts to a dull time at the casino.

Now, I’m no stranger to gacha games. I wouldn’t say I’m the most ardent player, but I’ve dedicated years of my dumb little life to dumb little mobile games like Fire Emblem Heroes, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, and Pokemon Masters EX. None of their gacha mechanics disappoint me the way ZZZ’s does. And that’s largely because most other gacha games I’ve played have shallow, bite-sized gameplay that mostly serves as a playground to place all your collectible characters and admire their cutesy glory. They’re one-or-two button-tapping near-auto-battlers that you can futz around with for a few minutes before getting on with your life. You can happily pull new characters endlessly because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you get. They’re all ultimately the same anyway, and you’re just trying to amass a collection.

In contrast, ZZZ’s sharp gameplay, which feels closer to a tag-team fighter, is far from brainless button tapping. Characters all have their own unique fighting style, all hitting with satisfying impact; they all synergize with one another differently; they’re each attributed with elemental aspects that may be better or less suited for particular enemies. The game begs for you to build well-synergized teams while rotating out characters to adapt to fluctuating situations. But that’s hampered when you have little to no control over the characters you unlock and your ability to level them up is limited by various stylings of far-too-many premium currencies with hard-to-conceive names.

And that’s nothing to say of its impact on the narrative. ZZZ’s meaty combat is intercut by flashy, comic book-styled visual novel segments (fun!). However, the fact that it’s a never-ending gacha game means that the full narrative will likely never come to a satisfying conclusion, and most characters will inevitably have little story relevance. As such, you probably won’t really get to know most characters in a meaningful way (not fun!). For a character-driven game, that’s a huge flaw.

The most frustrating part is that the fixes for many of Zenless Zone Zero’s problems would be clear as day if it were an average premium experience. You need only to make all characters unlockable through the story and/or through optional side quests, slap a traditional leveling system in there, and call it a day. When fleshed out, you’d have a fun, addictive game that fully comes together as a cohesive whole, with lovable characters every fan could get to know and want to die for. There doesn’t have to be much more to it than that.

I keep thinking back to Fire Emblem: Awakening, a game that featured nearly 50 unlockable characters throughout its main story and side content. And most of its characters, including the optional ones, are all memorable and quite lovable, helped along by the game’s support mechanic, which saw characters get closer to each other and progress in unique dialogue the more they’re paired together. If Zenless Zone Zero were to adopt such a system, it would surely be something special.

Perhaps I’m just being nostalgic for the days before rampant microtransactions when video games had a plethora of unlockable content. But I don’t think so. Character-driven games need you to be able to access and interact with their characters, especially when the primary gameplay revolves around team building.

 Unfortunately, I don’t think MiHoYo will ever stray from the HoYoverse gacha games they’ve become known for. Not implementing a gacha mechanic into their games would probably feel like money left lying on the table. And for Zenless Zone Zero, it’s too late. The game’s already out, and it is what it is. But who knows — maybe one day we’ll get a proper, premium HoYoverse game that I can feel good about slamming some money down for. One can only hope.

Zenless Zone Zero is available now.

It’s no secret that Game of Thrones and its prequel House of the Dragon draw inspiration from real-life history, particularly the Middle Ages. Yet one of the shows’ biggest nods to true events – dragons as a metaphor for Weapons of Mass Destruction – is decidedly more contemporary.

Related: All Dragons & Their Riders in House of the Dragon

George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series on which Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are based, highlighted the dragons/WMD subtext in a 2011 Vulture interview. “Dragons are the nuclear deterrent… But is that sufficient?” he said. “These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals. Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.”

It’s fascinating stuff, however, we’ve never seen it fully realized on the small screen – until now. Indeed, with its last four episodes, House of the Dragon has finally delivered on Martin’s WMD metaphor in ways that Game of Thrones Seasons 1-8 didn’t.

How Game of Thrones’ Approached the Dragons/WMD Metaphor

In fairness to Game of Thrones, its ability to engage with Martin’s WMD metaphor was limited by its scarcity of dragons. In keeping with the A Song of Ice and Fire canon, the show’s eight-season run featured just three of the winged beasties, all (almost) exclusively under Daenerys Targaryen’s command. As such, there’s not much scope to get into the “nuclear arms” race of it all. Even so, there’s at least some commentary in Game of Thrones about the power imbalance created when only one side in a conflict has warhead-level weapons. Daenerys using her dragons to flatten King’s Landing in Season 8 touches on Martin’s “creation versus destruction” point, too.

Related: House of the Dragon: Mysaria’s Neck Scar, Explained

So, if nothing else, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss leave us in no doubt that, whether it’s firebreathers or nukes, might doesn’t make right. But the deterrent aspect of Martin’s metaphor is almost completely absent. We never truly get the sense that Daenerys will rule unopposed thanks to her dragons, because we barely see her ruling. Sure, she’s technically the boss of Slaver’s Bay in Seasons 4 to 6. Yet she’s constantly challenged by the uncowed locals. As Martin rightly observed, so much of nuclear weapons’ effectiveness comes from the fear they evoke; Daenerys’ dragons don’t quite have the same effect.

House of the Dragon Season 1 Built on Game of Thrones’ Dragon/WMD Metaphor

Fortunately, House of the Dragon Season 1 edges the franchise closer to what Martin had in mind. From the jump, we appreciate that dragons have devastating, history-altering potential, even though we never see it firsthand. In Episode 1, King Viserys I Targaryen provides a handy recap of Westeros’ backstory: the dragons are what allowed his house to conquer Westeros and maintain its hold over the realm. After all, nobody wants to go toe-to-toe with a dragon and its rider.

Related: Is Daemon Targaryen Really Responsible for the Blood and Cheese Scene?

Throughout the rest of Season 1, this “dragons as a nuclear deterrent” is baked into the subtext. Viserys even has an Oppenheimer-esque moment of reflection, questioning the Targaryen dynasty’s decision to unleash dragons on the world. At the same time, he can’t exactly give them up. Otherwise, what’s to stop the other Great Houses from mounting a rebellion? So, the WMD metaphor is definitely there – but even so, you could conceivably miss it.

House of the Dragon Season 2 Runs Back the Cold War

That’s not the case in House of the Dragon Season 2, though. Unless you know nothing about world history post-1945, you’re not missing the dragon/WMD overlap here. Indeed, Episodes 1-3 play out as Westeros’ answer to the Cold War. There’s a tangible sense that the likes of Rhaenyra and Rhaenys Targaryen and Otto and Alicent Hightower know all too well that letting their dragons loose (like launching warheads) is a point of no return. Heck, Rhaenyra says as much in Episode 3.

It’s why House of the Dragon Season 2 starts slowly with saber rattling and proxy conflicts, not full-scale war. The realm’s cooler heads appreciate that dragon-on-dragon combat could result in the same mutually assured destruction that kept the US and Soviets in check back in the day. If the nukes-on-wings run riot, chances are there’ll be hardly anything left (and nobody left to rule it).

Related: Who Is Daeron Targaryen in House of the Dragon?

That’s also why, when the Green and Black Targaryen camps at long last “fire” their living arsenals in House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4, it’s suitably apocalyptic. Daenerys torching King’s Landing was one thing, a multi-dragon aerial slugfest is another entirely. Soldiers crumble to ash. The earth is scorched black. True, there’s no radiation, but the visuals are clearly meant to evoke what happens when you split the atom. What’s more, it’s evident there’s no going back. The fiery holocaust we’ve dodged in our world (for now) is coming to Westeros.

And that’s arguably showrunner Ryan Condal and his team’s biggest achievement with House of the Dragon Season 2’s first four episodes: dragon fighting is now more than just about spectacle. they’re a fully realized WMD metaphor. Yes, seeing these overgrown lizards mix it up is awesome. However, it’s forever tainted by our knowledge that each fight will bring the Targaryens (and Westeros itself) closer to annihilation. In effect, it blows up House of the Dragon‘s blockbuster appeal – but then, what do you expect from a WMD metaphor?

House of the Dragon Season 2 is currently airing on HBO and Max, with new episodes dropping Sundays.

With Zenless Zone Zero, however, it looks like HoYoverse has finally found a way to capture the attention of that smaller subset of players. Unlike its predecessors, ZZZ doesn’t feature any sort of open world. Instead, the game is broken down into smaller, bite-sized zones with activities to do and NPCs to talk to.

The main hub — Sixth Street — is small and cozy, and getting a coffee or a bowl of noodles for your daily buffs is only a few seconds away from the protagonists’ videotape store. It doesn’t take too long before you’ve become completely familiar with everything Sixth Street has to offer. And, in fact, I’d argue that the coziness it evokes also helps to bring about a sense of familiarity and connection to Zenless Zone Zero‘s world — a feeling I was never quite able to experience in Genshin Impact or Star Rail just because of how vast those games are.

Zenless Zone Zero is also structured like a more conventional gacha game. You’ve got a list of missions to choose from, and each one comes with star ratings that will yield more rewards if you’re able to nab them. The much-maligned TV mode also helps to break things up, as its structure makes for very clear starting and stopping points, allowing you to quickly jump in and out of a stage without feeling like there’s so much more to see and do after finishing a mission.

This is especially crucial for players who generally enjoy being more casual with their mobile games, as there isn’t any pressure to continue playing for hours on end when everything has been broken up into neat little chapters for you.

This isn’t to say that ZZZ isn’t a game you can binge, either. If I’m making this game sound simple and far too easy, rest assured that there are way harder challenges waiting for you as you make your way to the endgame portion. Reckless Challenges and Hard Mode missions help elevate the game and bring the combat to the next level. While you could largely get through the early stages just by spamming buttons, Zenless Zone Zero offers much more challenging game modes later on for players who really want to learn the intricacies of the combat system and get good at it.

There’s plenty to grind for in the endgame too, with weekly boss runs to do, as well as the classic HoYoverse resin mechanic (it’s called Battery Charge in this one), time-gating you slightly so you can’t just power level all your characters in one sitting.

With Zenless Zone Zero, it’s clear that HoYoverse wanted to focus on creating an immersive environment with top-notch character designs rather than creating yet another massive open world for players to explore. While it’s obviously been scaled down quite a bit, it’s safe to say that I’ve never felt more connected with a pair of HoYoverse protagonists than I have with Belle and Wise. Their casual sibling bickering and rivalry are endearing, and it’s heartening to see that each character has so much time to shine in the story.

The vibes of ZZZ are immaculate as well, with the soundtrack being one of the main highlights here. Everything about New Eridu, from the coffee-making robot to the retro videotape store, just screams style, resulting in one of the most well-realized worlds HoYoverse has ever created.

Not everything needs to be a huge open world that takes hundreds upon hundreds of hours to explore. Sometimes there’s satisfaction to be had in just being static, chilling with a cup of coffee as you bask in the comfort of familiarity, and that’s what Zenless Zone Zero does.

Zenless Zone Zero is available now.

What Are the Best A24 Horror Movies?

Horror is an entirely subjective genre, filled with plenty of different niches and methods to scare audiences. But when put through the lens of A24’s auteur-focused lens of production, they seemingly elevate each genre into something more. A24 has made a lot of horror movies in the past decade, and while some of them have been less than amazing, plenty are worth your time.

This past weekend, A24 released MaXXXine, the conclusion to Ti West’s X trilogy, which has found commercial and critical success since its release in 2022. With people eager to see the conclusion of this horror series, some people may be itching to see more horror movies like MaXXXine after they see the credits roll. Consider taking a look at these five other excellent horror movies made by A24. While I can’t guarantee they’ll scare you, I can guarantee that you won’t forget them.

1) Hereditary (2018)

Considered by many to be one of the scariest movies of the past decade, Hereditary is an unnerving look at a family that is slowly falling apart. To say any more would spoil the numerous twists and revelations in the film, but Ari Aster’s debut horror feature shows an eye for cinematography that most other directors lack. He would go on to make Midsommar, another excellent A24 horror movie, but Hereditary manages to leave a long-lasting impression, mostly thanks to Toni Collette’s amazing performance. It’s a slow-burn horror movie, not dissimilar from something like Rosemary’s Baby, and thanks to the myriad of shots that will leave you disturbed, it’s going to be one that the viewer won’t forget anytime soon.

2) I Saw The TV Glow (2024)

It may be a bit presumptuous putting a movie like I Saw The TV Glow on this list so soon after its release, but the technicolor nightmare that it brings is hard to ignore. The film follows Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as socially awkward teenagers who bond over a supernatural show called The Pink Opaque. At first, what seems like a 90s-inspired coming-of-age story slowly descends into an amalgamation of Buffy, Twin Peak, and a whole host of mid-90s Nickelodeon shows. That may seem like a weird combination, but the show’s unnerving blend of surrealism and horror creates an experience that, by the end, will leave you questioning everything you saw and saddened by the conclusion. This is a depressing movie that will leave you nostalgic for an era of popular culture that we’ll never get back, yet hollow thanks to the fate of its cast.

3) The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017)

If you saw Poor Things last year and thought that the director, Yorgos Lathimos, was weird, then The Killing Of A Sacred Deer is just for you. It’s the story of a doctor, played by Colin Farrell, as he becomes more and more familiar with a young man played by Barry Keoghan. Like most of Yorgos’s films, it’s an odd watch at first, but you can’t deny the terror that begins to overtake everything as the movie begins to pick up speed. It’s a movie that will leave you asking a lot of questions, but the ideas it has about evil and the nature of the devil are wonderfully handled, mostly thanks to a breakout performance by Barry Keoghan. More than any other movie on this list, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is not for everyone, but for those who can vibe with its weirdness, you’ll find a lot to admire.

4) The Lighthouse (2019)

Much like Ari Aster, Robert Eggers is a director who got his start making horror movies with A24 and has found critical success ever since. However, while Aster has more modern sensibilities surrounding horror, Eggers uses a lot of classical imagery and mythology to make his horror movies pop. Take The Lighthouse for example. The film follows Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers who can hardly stand each other, forced to live with one another on a stormy island for an unknown amount of time. Between the abuse that Dafoe puts on Pattinson and the tight cinematography, sometimes literally, it makes a film that makes you feel almost as deranged as the two men themselves. Add in some truly bizarre moments and an ending that will sear itself into your brain, and you too will be spilling your beans and regretting ever criticizing Dafoe’s lobster.

5) X (2022)

It stands to reason that if this list is in celebration of MaXXXine’s release, we should probably talk about X and its homage to 70s low-budget horror movies. Taking influence from exploitation films of the era and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the film follows a group of adult filmmakers as they rent out a barn on the property of ultra-religious geriatrics as they try to secretly make their movie without alerting their hosts of what they’re doing. What follows is a gory look at religious fundamentalism, the allure of fame and regret, all propelled by the performances of Mia Goth, who does double duty as both the film’s protagonist and antagonist. Mia Goth owns this movie and elevates what should normally be a middle-of-the-road slasher into something special. It’s funny how Mia Goth’s characters want to be a star and this is the film that put this scream queen on the map and into the hearts of so many horror fans. If you watch X, you’re coming for the slasher bits, but you’re staying for Mia Goth.

Related: All Major Actors & Cast List for Wicked

No, not the colorful costumes. Or even the stylized visuals and overall sense of hyper-reality. Yes, song-and-dance features and cape-and-tights adventures are founded on both, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Instead, I’m hung up on how Hollywood markets musicals today, and how closely it mirrors the industry’s approach to superhero movies more than two decades ago.

In both cases, the tactic is the same: don’t tell the audience what you’re selling them. That way, they might actually turn up for a brand of entertainment they typically can’t stand. It’s deeply dishonest – and wildly effective. So, really, is it any surprise that musicals have become the superhero movies of the late ’90s and early 2000s?

The Secret to a Good Musical Trailer: No Singing

In the last 18 months alone, we’ve seen several high-profile examples of 2000s-era superhero movie marketing applied to musicals. 2023 Timothée Chalamet vehicle Wonka didn’t outright obscure its true nature, however, the Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory prequel’s trailers didn’t foreground them either. Indeed, plenty of moviegoers didn’t realize they were buying tickets to a musical until Chalamet belted out his first tune (at least if the audible groans at my screening are any guide).

Meanwhile, the promotional campaign for Mean Girls took things to a new level. Nothing about the 2024 stage show adaptation’s marketing suggested that it was, in fact, based on a musical. Heck, the trailers didn’t feature a single song! The only clue Paramount Pictures supplied viewers was a small musical note in Mean Girls‘ logo – an easily missed detail. Paramount was clearly confident the Mean Girls IP could get folks through the door. But the musical bit? Not so much.

And then there’s Wicked: Part One. Here, Universal has adopted a middle-of-the-road stance. It’s virtually impossible to hide what Wicked is; the stage show is one of the longest-running (and most lucrative) in Broadway history. What’s more, Wicked‘s soundtrack is its major selling point. So, leaving songs out of Part One‘s trailer was obviously a non-starter. Yet the studio hasn’t completely given up on luring in the uninitiated. That’s almost certainly why the Wicked: Part One trailer doesn’t include any clear shots of its cast actually, y’know, singing.

Related: Wicked Already Changed Disney’s Fairy Tale Princesses, so Do We Need a Film?

Don’t Say ‘Superhero,’ Say ‘Sci-Fi’ or ‘Horror’

It’s all a bit sneaky – and very familiar to those of us who grew up before the current superhero movie boom. In the late 90s, ‘superhero’ was a dirty word in Tinseltown. The Superman and Batman franchises had both crashed and burned, along with the likes of The Rocketeer, The Shadow, The Phantom, and Spawn. The knock-on effect was that if you wanted to get a superhero film off the ground, you had to repackage it as something else.

So, 1998’s Blade became a hybrid horror flick, 2000’s X-Men leaned more into its sci-fi elements, and so on. Even so, these movies (and others like them) were still recognizably superhero-oriented. M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable made room for entire monologues on comic book history, for crying out loud! Yet the advertising of these late ’90s/early ’00s superhero movies – not to mention that of 2002’s Blade II and 2003’s X2: X-Men United – was decidedly less honest.

On the contrary, if you were a horror, sci-fi, or thriller fan who fronted up for Blade, X-Men, or Unbreakable, you straight-up didn’t get what you paid for. You may have enjoyed these films, however, with the possible exception of Blade, they only vaguely aligned with the story you were promised. In Unbreakable‘s case, there’s a decent chance this disconnect even led to lukewarm reviews and lower-than-expected box office (a theory backed by no less than Quentin Tarantino!).

Indeed, it wasn’t until 2002’s Spider-Man – with its unmistakably spandex-clad protagonist – that superhero movie marketing started playing fair.

Related: How Many X-Men Movies Are There?

Eventually, Hollywood Will Be Honest About Its Musicals

Fittingly, the Spider-Man seachange also hints there’s hope yet for musicals’ marketing. After all, the underlying reason for superhero movies embracing their source material more fully – on screen and in adverts – was a gradual shift in audience taste. As more and more people became comfortable with superhero-inspired fare (ironically, thanks to the dubious tactic I’ve railed against all article), studios worried less and less about disguising it. They didn’t need to anymore; moviegoers were finally in the market for what they were selling.

The same could happen with musicals. Wonka raked in over $600 million worldwide, and if Mean Girls faltered by comparison, it still more than doubled its budget. Plus, industry pundits are already pegging Wicked: Part One as one of 2024’s safe bets. Willingly or otherwise, it seems people are gradually vibing with big screen musicals – just like they did with superhero movies in the early 2000s. Perhaps someday soon, Hollywood will finally feel safe marketing their musicals as musicals. Now, wouldn’t that be super?

Wicked: Part One arrives in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024.

Once Upon A Time In Anime

Megaton Musashi W: Wired has a slow start, with a heavy focus on story beats, character interactions, and exploring the world around you. It feels a lot like a visual novel in between battles, and while I don’t mean that as a derogatory thing, I do know that won’t be for everyone. The good news is that, while the characters and story beats can feel a bit tropey for anyone who’s watched an anime before, which we’re assuming is everyone who’s reading this, it’s still very enjoyable.

Plus, when you do get to the action, it feels amazing. Your mech can float around with ease, and use a mix of melee and ranged weapons that you can switch between on the fly during battles. Along with that, you’ve got awesome special moves that make you feel like an anime protagonist, which you are; don’t let anyone tell you any different.

A Sturdy Base

Battles become substantially more varied as you get further into the game, but the gameplay itself isn’t the deepest thing going. Actually, nothing here is exactly revolutionary, but it is all incredibly good fun. Whether you’re racing around town trying to chat with your friends, finding out what strange part of the story is coming next, or you’re just repeating some of the big combat missions, you’ll have a good time.

There’s a lot of stuff to unlock as well, and while it can feel a bit overwhelming when you’re customising your mecha and looking at stats that easily hit near the 100,000 mark, you’ll be smitten with it all. Plus, if you really enjoy it, there are even some online bits to engage in if you fancy trying to prove yourself as the best mech pilot out there, and plenty of genuinely tough end-game battles to trudge through as well.

All-in-all, Megaton Musashi W: Wired is just a lot of fun, and while it’s not going to change the world, it will help you forget about it all while you’re playing it, and that’s got to be worth something.

Megaton Musashi W: Wired is available now.

When we think of cozy games, many of us have a Stardew Valley–esque image in mind. Core gameplay features include farming, cooking, and decorating your space. For many cozy gamers, an element of romance is also involved, marrying off to your favorite NPC to start a family together.

And yet, even the archetypal Stardew Valley breaks the cozy mold for some. If you’ve ever tried to explore Skull Cavern, you know what I mean — that combat gets intense, and you’ll find yourself in Harvey’s clinic if you’re not careful. So, what exactly is a cozy game, anyway?

This question came into sharp relief after the 2024 Nintendo Direct when gamers on the Cozy Gamers Reddit forum began sharing the cozies they were most excited to see. Browsing the list clearly shows that not all of us have a shared definition of cozy gaming anymore.

Of course, most gamers would agree that the Tales of the Shire spin on Lord of the Rings is a clear effort to pull Middle Earth into the cozy genre. What’s more wholesome than living your best Hobbit life, serving second breakfast to your friends? Similarly, games like Hello Kitty: Island Adventure are incredibly low-stakes, featuring familiar and beloved cartoon characters. But after these obvious choices, some interesting and debatable titles came into the mix.

Let’s take Stray as an example here. In this game, you play as a cat, which many people might define as cozy gaming at its finest. And yet, I found myself incredibly stressed out watching the trailer. A lonely, stray cat who has been separated from their family? Oh, and they’ve fallen into a dystopian wasteland? No amount of being a cat will make that feel cozy for me, personally.

Similarly, many gamers are calling the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom a cozy game. Is this because we’re finally stepping into Zelda’s shoes or because the core mechanic involves summoning household furniture? Perhaps the adorable, chibi-style animation lands this game in the cozy genre.

Or maybe it’s because many gamers consider any of the Legend of Zelda games cozy because they’re a core childhood memory. Yet for me, they bring back memories of furious hours unable to solve intricate puzzles in the days before you could easily refer to an online guide for help.

But what if it does feel relaxing and soothing to someone else? Do I get to say it’s not a cozy game just because it wouldn’t be comforting to me? The fact is, the concept of a cozy game isn’t as simple as it seems at first glance.

There are many people — myself included — who consider Skyrim a cozy game. On its surface, this RPG game with combat and quests, death and destruction, shouldn’t qualify. And yet, there’s a comforting nostalgia to the game for so many of us.

The beautiful open world, full of characters and landscapes we’ve grown to know so well over the years, feels like coming home. Sure, it might be a home where you’re under constant threat of dragon attack or getting hopelessly lost in a Dwemer ruin, but it’s home nevertheless. I don’t know about you, but sometimes after a hard day, all I want to do is settle into roaming around as the Dragonborn, causing chaos and setting things on fire without any real fear of the consequences.

I know some of you are reading this and thinking, it can’t be cozy if you’re constantly getting killed because you stumbled across some high-level Draugr. But if it feels comforting and soothing, who is to say Skyrim can’t be a part of your personal cozy gaming rotation?

When it comes down to it, it almost seems like there are actually two definitions of a cozy game. There’s the standard fare farming and life sim version that most gamers agree upon. Where stakes are low, combat is nonexistent or minimal, and you spend most of your time cultivating crops and relationships with NPCs.

And then, there’s the personally cozy game: those comfort games we come back to again and again because of nostalgia, or because there’s just something about them that soothes us, personally, for whatever reason.

I may not agree that anything with Legend of Zelda in the title can do anything but give me stress flashbacks, and you may not agree that absorbing the souls of dragons is a good, wholesome time. But as long as we understand the difference between marketing a game as broadly part of the cozy genre and referencing our own personal idea of cozy, is that really a problem?

Ranking Shadow of the Erdtree Bosses From Worst to Best

In our last list, we took a look at the most difficult bosses that the DLC threw at players and now we’re building on that with a ranking of all of the major bosses. What constitutes a major boss in Shadow of the Erdtree is a bit unclear statement . There are 10 bosses that drop Remembrances, signifying a major encounter, but there are also several major bosses that don’t drop Remembrances that would be rude to leave off. Not only that, but then there are mandatory bosses that don’t drop Remembrances and are unique encounters, so where do they factor in?

For this list, we decided to limit our focus not only to bosses that drop Remembrances but also boss encounters that are either required to progress the story or cap off major sidequests. That gives us 13 encounters to rank based on their overall quality. Difficulty is a factor when ranking these foes, but it also comes down to their overall design, the arena you fight them in, and the ease of learning their patterns.

With that in mind, here is our ranking of every major boss from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree from worst to best.

13) Commander Gaius

Calling Commander Gaius the worst boss of the DLC isn’t an unpopular statement. Outside of blatant input reading, Gaius lumbers around the ring with his boar and thanks to his tricky timing and frame-perfect dodges, is one of the hardest fights in the game. He’s an entirely optional foe and most players won’t even encounter him, making him feel all the more irrelevant. He’s the one boss in the game that feels broken to fight against, whether it’s on foot or with Torrent, making him more frustrating than fun. It’s rare for a community to unite around hating one particular character, but Gaius accomplished that. Nobody likes Gaius and it should stay that way. If only he wasn’t blocking the way to a fistful of Scadutree Fragments.

12) Divine Beast Dancing Lion

The problem with Divine Beast Dancing Lion is the same as a lot of other large enemies you have to fight in close environments: their speed is too great for their size and the confined space leads to camera issues. This is the first boss that most players will find in Shadow of the Erdtree and his wild movements will almost certainly frustrate returning players. The phase shifts where he uses different elements make the fight more interesting and fun, but even when fighting him again in the late-game, dodging his chaotic movements feels like it boils down to luck. Awesome music, though.

11) Golden Hippopotamus

Take a lot of the issues that the Divine Beast Dancing Lion had and you’ll find that they’re the same criticisms of the Golden Hippopotamus. The confinement of the arena leads to camera issues, but thankfully his larger size and how he’s a beefed-up version of a miniboss you faced before helps to make his moves more readable and familiar. His second phase is perfectly okay, with him sprouting golden spikes that give him some ranged attacks, but the core mechanics of the fight are still the same. Get up close, hug his side, and keep hitting him until he’s dead. He’s not a bad boss, but a fairly unremarkable one.

10) Metyr, Mother of Fingers

Metyr, Mother of Fingers is another boss that most players may not even fight, given how it’s at the end of a lengthy and obtuse sidequest. The fight against this fingered freak is in a wide open arena, which works for players fighting at a distance, but its weak point is the juicy spot right in its front, tempting more aggressive players to target it. Its weird movements are justified given its freakish design and its large AOE attack to initiate the second phase may be a bit too cheap given its large size, but Metyr is a boss that’s fairly forgettable and over a bit too soon if you play it aggressively.

9) Promised Consort Radahn

Look, Promised Consort Radahn is, at points, a great boss. He’s undeniably the hardest boss in the game, but in its first phase, it’s because of how well he controls the fight. His large moves and gravity magic will keep you on your toes and his combos are never too long to memorize. If this ranking was just based on his first phase, then Radahn would be much higher.

But then Miquella brings his frail self to the party and all the goodwill goes down the drain. Phase 2 is marked by massive AOE attacks, rapid attacks that hit for chunks of damage, moves that obscure his attacks, and, of course, all of the brutal moves that players learned from the first phase, only with aftereffects that prevent you from staying close. Fighting Radahn and Miquella is straight-up not fun and is the definition of self-inflicted punishment. This is the breaking point of FromSoft making each of their games harder. Radahn is just unreasonable, and the only things keeping him from the bottom is his role as the final boss and the enjoyable first phase.

8) Putrescent Knight

Another boss that most players may not even encounter, the Putrescent Knight gives me Orphan of Kos flashbacks in all of the best ways. While he’s not as aggressive as that nightmare of a boss, the Putrescent Knight and his horse are highly mobile and can lay down some punishment, either while he’s riding his steed or when they separate for some combos. It’s when the knight splits that he becomes more annoying, mostly from how his steed can summon itself from the goopy waters, making this a fairly stiff boss fight, but nothing too taxing. A perfect midgame challenge.

7) Needle Knight Leda and her Allies

This penultimate fight is probably one of the most interesting fights in the game since it’s a massive PvP fight against Needle Knight Leda and several allies backing her up. You can have allies supporting you depending on how many sidequests you’ve completed, as well as whittle down her forces depending on your actions in certain sidequests. No matter what, it’s probably the best PvP fight in the game, thanks to Leda’s own spread of holy attacks and the sheer variety of combat styles you have to deal with during this skirmish. The longer the fight goes on, the harder it becomes, but as a way to wrap up the stories of the major NPCs in the DLC, it’s a great way to go.

6) Rellana Twin Moon Knight

As the first mandatory boss fight in the game, Rellana Twin Moon Knight will quickly humble players with her odd attack movements and range. At first, she’s not a particularly hard fight, but her second phase really does embody a central problem with Elden Ring bosses in general: chaotic second phases. With a flurry of magical attacks being thrown out at a speed that’s almost impossible to avoid, Rellana’s fair difficulty becomes much more unfair once she decides to channel her inner Pontiff Sulyvahn. It’s still an enjoyable fight and one that feels like an accomplishment to overcome, but because of her magical attacks in the second phase, it’s kept just out of the top five.

5) Romina, Saint of the Bud

Romina, Saint of the Bud is a boss that feels oddly easy given how she’s encountered late in the game, but that doesn’t diminish her skills or overall challenge. Her centipedal body may lead to some odd movements, but distinguishing between the head and the tail will help cue you to her attacks. She also has access to Scarlet Rot, making players debate whether to fight her from a distance or up close and personal. Her arena is absolutely gorgeous and her beautiful AOE attacks are deadly, yet easily dodgeable. In a game that seems dead set on killing you at every chance, Romina is the first boss in a long while that feels like it’s readily possible to overcome her, leading to a thrilling fight.

4) Scadutree Avatar

It’s odd saying that a giant sunflower is one of the best bosses in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, but the fight against the Scadutree Avatar is a smartly designed encounter. The large open arena is a double-edged sword, leading to some very far-reaching yet easily dodgeable attacks, but hitting the flower up close will deal the most damage. Its health is paltry, but once you realize you have to kill it three times for it to stay dead, then the fight gets more interesting. Each resurrection adds new attacks, like a huge rush across the arena or a projection of lasers, but the fight’s core doesn’t change. In fact, each time the Avatar dies, it gives the players just enough time to heal and apply buffs, giving you somewhat of a breather. It’s just a well-designed fight, one made all the better by the changing score as you keep killing this decayed sunflower.

3) Bayle the Dread

The top three bosses are all excellent for their own reasons, but Bayle the Dread is something special. Serving as the climax of a huge ascent up Jagged Peaks, Bayle is a spectacle of a boss, complete with fire-based lightning attacks, massive rushes, and the now legendary screams of Igon. Hitting Bayle is no easy task, especially when your sole lock-on point is his tiny head, but it’s a marvel just watching this fight play out. For theatrics alone, this fight is top-tier. However, what keeps him off the top spot are the camera issues that plague most agile large enemies and how actually reaching him to attack is cumbersome. Still, for the challenge and scale of this fight, Bayle the Dread is one of the best bosses in Elden Ring, DLC or otherwise.

2) Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame

The fight against Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame is, again, one that many players will miss, but I implore you to find him in the Abyssal Woods. As far as humanoid fights go, Midra has plenty of obvious tells and easily read attacks, giving you opportunities to either punish him or heal. How he can inflict Madness on the player keeps you on edge, which forces you to play cautiously or risk taking huge amounts of damage. Get too cautious though and Midra will start to combo you, made all the worse by the flames that he starts to use in the second phase. There are plenty of opportunities to stagger him, so players who can learn his tells will have a great time fighting this wonderfully memorable boss. The only thing keeping him from the top spot? The first phase just kind of… exists.

1) Messmer the Impaler

It should come as no surprise that the DLC’s poster boy is the best boss of the game. Messmer the Impaler is a thrilling fight from beginning to end. He’s the definition of a tough, yet fair, encounter. His moves all have easy-to-read tells and he’s never aggressively fast, unlike other bosses. Even when he brings out his inner snake for the second phase, it never feels too chaotic, with plenty of opportunities for you to get in hits. He’s not the hardest boss in the game, but that’s arguably a point in his favor since he’s not a boss that feels like an insurmountable challenge or a damage sponge with absurd HP. He’s exactly the kind of boss you want from a FromSoft game—tough, with just the right amount of spectacle, an easy-to-learn pattern, and one that encourages split-second decision-making. Without a doubt, Messmer is the best boss of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is available now.

Top 5 Hardest Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Bosses

If we’re counting all PvP battles, bosses that drop remembrances upon defeat, and numerous “Great Enemies,” there are approximately 78 bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree. Some of these are repeated multiple times, like the Death Knights, but as long as an enemy has a health bar that pops up beneath it when you approach it, then it’s valid for this list. Also, keep in mind that difficulty is subjective, so the bosses on this list are ones that generally give people the most headaches, to the point where we begin to question our sanity. With that said, here are the Top 5 hardest Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree bosses!

5) Needle Knight Leda and Her Allies

Leda is an interesting fight because the difficulty of it is entirely contingent on how many side quests and NPCs you’ve befriended on your quest, which has her fall to the fifth rank in our hardest bosses in Elden Ring list. At the beginning of the DLC, you meet Leda and her allies and slowly learn their motivations and desires once Miquella’s spell breaks. If you’re just barreling through the DLC without bothering to explore, then this fight becomes absolutely brutal as you have to fight against seven opponents PvP style as they’re gradually summoned into the ring. It can be completely overwhelming at times, given each of their unique spells and attacks. However, if you’ve done a handful of quests, then you can reduce the number of enemies significantly and even bolster your own forces. When I fought her, I had three allies and her small squad was reduced down to four. It still led to a thrilling fight that kept me on my toes, but the potential to make this fight a solo blitz is frightening.

4) Rellana Twin Moon Knight

There are only a few mandatory bosses that Shadow of the Erdtree makes you fight, but Rellana may be the first boss to appear like an insurmountable challenge. At first, the rhythm of her twin blades may be hard to grasp. But with enough practice, you’ll be able to weave in between her strikes to land some blows of your own. It’s when the second phase starts that all sense of balance gets thrown out the window as she launches two different elemental attacks your way with absurd speed and range. At times, these moves feels next to impossible to avoid, leading to numerous deaths for many players. It might even feel like certain moves are almost impossible to avoid, like her Twin Moon attack that sends two moons slamming into the ground with a shockingly large AOE. If you gave up at Rellana, I wouldn’t blame you. But it’s better to learn how to parry her fast attacks and jump her special moon ability, instead.

3) Commander Gaius

There are bosses with balanced difficulty, and then there’s Commander Gaius. Gaius one of the few bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree that I would call unfair. Between his charge attacks that start the moment you enter his arena, his fast-paced combos, trying to avoid damage from Gaius is a tall order. You may think that, due to the large outdoor arena, you should use Torrent for the fight. But that’s a trap that will lead to your untimely demise. Gaius is too mobile for a boss with such a small hitbox, and he can easily kill you in a combo that requires you to not only dodge his lance but his boar’s charge, kicks, and headbutts, too.

Add in some blatant input reading, and you have a boss that feels cheap at best and broken at worst. The five Scadutree Fragments that he was guarding sure would have been useful to grab beforehand…

2) Bayle the Dread

There have been plenty of dragon fights in FromSoft games, but the battle against Bayle the Dread is arguably the best dragon fight in the series and probably the best fight in the DLC, clutching him the fourth spot in our hardest bosses in Elden Ring list. And the buildup to his arena adds to the atmosphere and anticipation.

Bayle’s massive size and fierce attacks can decimate your health if you’re not prepared, but like most dragons, they’re all easy to read and easy to dodge. The challenge is hitting Bayle in the head to do reasonable damage. Because he only has one leg, you can’t take many cheap shots from behind.

The second phase is a natural evolution of the first, adding in more flaming lightning strikes in a fairly large arena with a stunning transformation sequence. The main thing to keep in mind with Bayle is that he looks intimidating, but keep your cool, and you’ll realize that he’s no different from most other dragons. Also, summon Igon for some of the best lines in the game.

1) Promised Consort Radahn

And then there’s Radahn.

I don’t think it’s a surprise to call Radahn the hardest boss in Shadow of the Erdtree. The first phase is tough, with his large, sweeping attacks and gravity magic allowing him to control the pace of the fight. Getting hit even once might even one shot you, depending on how many Scadutree Fragments you have.

But the second phase, when Miquella decides to join in, is beyond cruel. While his attack patterns are mostly the same, the sheer speed Radahn gains, combined with his relentless AOE attacks and new combos designed to stun lock you, is FromSoft going too far. Radahn and Miquella creates a boss that is most certainly difficult but hardly fun to fight against. Yes, you’re fighting a literal god, but with how relentless his onslaught of attacks are, it’s too hard at points. Even veterans are finding him impossible to beat. There is no shame in using whatever tricks you have to win. And the first thingt you should do is get as many Scadutree Fragments as possible.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is available now.

That being said, both sources are vague, and there’s nothing concrete. Miyazaki stated in his June 26, 2024, interview that, while he doesn’t see a sequel for Elden Ring, he’d be open to other interpretations in a different medium. “I don’t see any reason to deny another interpretation or adaptation of Elden Ring, a movie, for example,” Miyazaki stated. “But I don’t think myself, or FromSoftware, have the knowledge or ability to produce something in a different medium. So that’s where a very strong partner would come into play. We’d have to build a lot of trust and agreement on whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, but there’s interest, for sure.”

And that’s where George R.R. Martin comes in. While Martin is even more vague than Miyazaki, in his blog post on June 29, 2024, Martin reminisces about the Nebula Award for Game Writing, which went to Elden Ring. 

But just after that, without any prompting, he writes, “Oh, and about those rumors you may have heard about a feature film or television series based on ELDEN RING … I have nothing to say. Not a word, nope, not a thing, I know nothing, you never heard a peep from me, mum mum mum. What rumor?”

It’s hard not to imagine Martin smug and coy as he wrote that paragraph. But those three sentences have elicited a wildfire of speculation. Martin contributed significantly to the world-building in Elden Ring and is best known for his Game of Thrones series. Both share intense political intrigue, tragic storylines, and brutal plays for power in a broken world.

So, don’t lose your light, Tarnished. The story of Elden Ring might not yet be over. And perhaps this time we’ll get some insight into who the Gloam-Eyed Queen is.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is available now.

Related: Doctor Manhattan’s Big Blue Package Is Still the Ultimate Litmus Test for Zack Snyder’s Watchmen

That’s not a knock on Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2‘s cast and crew. You can tell from the trailer that everyone involved worked hard to faithfully recreate the comics (to a fault, if anything). All the dialogue we hear is lifted directly from Moore’s scripts. The character models, framing, and color palette emulate Gibbons’s artwork and layouts. Indeed, chances are Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2 will be a solid set of superhero flicks when they finally arrive.

But here’s the thing: it’s 2024. We’ve spent 38 years (and counting) watching the Watchmen already. It’s time we all moved on.

Even A Story as Deep as Watchmen Has a Bottom

Admittedly, Watchmen is a famously rich text that rewards multiple readthroughs. Whether it’s noting the symmetry between panel layouts or clocking a key clue to the mask killer’s identity buried in backmatter, you’ll want to thumb through Watchmen more than once. But eventually, the well runs dry and the story and its characters have nothing left to say. Comic book scribe Grant Morrison touched on this in a 2015 interview, while discussing his Watchmen pastiche Pax Americana.

“We all know those moments when we’re sitting with friends, and we’re really enthusiastic about something we all love,” Morrison said. “And we keep wanting to talk about it. We keep wanting to get further and deeper, and there comes a moment where you go, all we’re left with is the pieces here [laughs]. It doesn’t seem very palatable anymore. I think there’s an inescapable thing when you do dissect something down, the dissection is always done from a point of enthusiasm and excitement or a need to engage with something a lot more. What you’re doing in a lot of cases is ending up with something dead in your hands.”

Related: Watchmen Is Still the Best Superhero Movie

And that’s the problem with Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2. By aiming to replicate the comics as closely as possible, it’s bound by the same constraints as its source material. There’s no room for additional plot beats or themes for long-time fans to grapple with. It’s just the same old stuff they’ve spent years picking over already. Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2 can’t serve up anything truly new. Which begs the question: why should it even exist?

Heck, it’s not even the first attempt at an ultra-faithful Watchmen adaptation. Zack Snyder’s 2009 live-action version takes that honor (unless you count 2008’s Watchmen: The Motion Comic). True, Snyder tweaked aspects of Moore and Gibbons’ story – and DC devotees still debate the overall impact of these changes today. But giant squid notwithstanding, Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2 is essentially just Snyder’s movie, in animation form. It’s hard to get excited about.

Watchmen Chapter 3 Wouldn’t Be Any Better Than 1 & 2

That’s not to say Warner Bros. should’ve produced an animated Watchmen sequel, instead. Not only have we seen Watchmen follow-ups before, but the results have been mixed, at best. DC’s 2012 Before Watchmen line of prequel comics was wildly uneven. 2017 quasi-sequel (and DC Universe crossover) Doomsday Clock was downright bizarre. 2020 DC Black Label limited series Rorschach was compelling, if unnecessary. And HBO’s Watchmen was good TV, but arguably never felt like a “true” continuation of Moore and Gibbons’s narrative.

Ironically, what ultimately hurt all these projects (even the more successful ones) is one of Watchmen‘s biggest selling points: its standalone nature. Watchmen is designed to have a definite beginning and end. It’s not supposed to have prequels or sequels and wasn’t built to sustain either (especially sequels). So, no matter how clever the creators involved are, whatever they add to the Watchmen canon paradoxically subtracts from it. Like the folks behind Watchmen Chapters 1 & 2, they’re damned if they do something new, and damned if they don’t.

That’s no doubt why the HBO Watchmen series’ showrunner Damon Lindelof opted not to make another season. He presumably understood how lucky he and his team were to get away with stretching Watchmen‘s inflexible mythos as far as they did the first time. Anything further was almost certainly doomed to fail, with a level of inevitability Doctor Manhattan would appreciate. As such, a “Watchmen Chapter 3” animated feature wouldn’t have fared much better.

Related: Watchmen’s Alan Moore Is Donating All His Screen Royalties to Black Lives Matter

Warner Bros. Knows We Won’t Stop Watching the Watchmen

That’s ultimately what it boils down to: the exploits of Rorscharch, Nite-Owl, Silk Spectre, and their fellow Crimebusters (yes, I know “Watchmen” isn’t a team name) aren’t evergreen or unending like those of, say, Superman or Batman. Sure, new readers will always discover Moore and Gibbons’ story, and existing fans will (and absolutely should) revisit it from time to time. But it’s not something we should be focusing all our energy on. Neither should Warner Bros., for that matter. Think of all the other, never-before-adapted DC tales they could’ve turned into an animated movie.

But instead, they went with Watchmen, because they know we’ll watch it – even though it’s high time we stopped.

Watchmen Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 do not yet have release dates.