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Tag: top tech trends 2024

  • Geekom Mini IT13 Review | IT Pro

    Geekom Mini IT13 Review | IT Pro


    Geekom is another Chinese OEM carving out a name for itself in the Mini PC market. Unlike the mini PC boxes we’ve looked at recently from relative newcomers Acemagic and Beelink which are both entry level devices built around Intel’s N150 processor the Geekom Mini IT13 2025 Edition, to give it its full title, runs on the altogether more potent Core i9-13900HK CPU.

    Naturally, that puts the new Geekom box into a different price category from its Twin Lake juniors. At the time of writing, Geekom is selling the 1TB model for £649 rather than the “usual” RRP of £849 and the 2TB model for £699 rather than, oddly, £799. It’s good to see a manufacturer not gouging the public for extra storage capacity. Certain famous computer makers with fruit logos could take note. Both models come with 32GB of RAM.


  • Chilkey ND75 LP Review: Impressive performance for $100

    Chilkey ND75 LP Review: Impressive performance for $100


    Why you can trust Tom’s Hardware


    Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

    There aren’t a ton of low-profile mechanical keyboards on the market — after all, the best mechanical keyboards are about trying to achieve an amazing typing experience, and low-profile keyboards tend to be about compromising said experience for something slim, lightweight, and travel-friendly. But not everyone wants to travel with a paper-thin Apple Magic Keyboard, so it’s always nice to see a well-built low-profile board that delivers a fantastic typing experience — and it’s even nicer to see one with a sub-$100 price tag.

    Chilkey’s ND75 LP is the brand’s popular ND75 keyboard in low-profile form, and it comes with all the bells and whistles: wireless, with a full-aluminum body, double-shot PBT keycaps, a hot-swappable PCB, and tri-mode wireless connectivity. It even has a little LCD screen that shows you the time, battery life, and various settings like system and Caps Lock (and can, of course, be configured to display a picture or gif of your choosing — because that’s important). The ND75 LP is a little heavy to be a travel-friendly low-profile keyboard, but it’s nice to have the option of traveling with something that prioritizes typing feel and sound over portability.


  • NOV CIO fused AI and Zero Trust to slash threats by 35x

    NOV CIO fused AI and Zero Trust to slash threats by 35x


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    National Oilwell Varco (NOV) is undergoing a sweeping cybersecurity transformation under CIO Alex Philips, embracing a Zero Trust architecture, strengthening identity defenses and infusing AI into security operations. While the journey is not complete, the results, by all accounts, are dramatic – a 35-fold drop in security events, the elimination of malware-related PC reimaging and millions saved by scrapping legacy “appliance hell” hardware.

    VentureBeat recently sat down (virtually) for this in-depth interview where Philips details how NOV achieved these outcomes with Zscaler’s Zero Trust platform, aggressive identity protections and a generative AI “co-worker” for its security team.

    He also shares how he keeps NOV’s board engaged on cyber risk amid a global threat landscape where 79% of attacks to gain initial access are malware-free, and adversaries can move from breach to break out in as little as 51 seconds.

    Below are excerpts of Philips’ recent interview with VentureBeat:

    VentureBeat: Alex, NOV went “all in” on Zero Trust a number of years ago – what were the standout gains?

    Alex Philips: When we started, we were a traditional castle-and-moat model that wasn’t keeping up. We didn’t know what Zero Trust was, we just knew that we needed identity and conditional access at the core of everything. Our journey began by adopting an identity-driven architecture on Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange and it changed everything. Our visibility and protection coverage dramatically increased while simultaneously experiencing a 35x reduction in the number of security incidents. Before, our team was chasing thousands of malware incidents; now, it’s a tiny fraction of that. We also went from reimaging about 100 malware-infected machines each month to virtually zero now. That’s saved a considerable amount of time and money. And since the solution is cloud-based, Appliance hell is gone, as I like to say.

    The zero trust approach now gives 27,500 NOV users and third parties policy-based access to thousands of internal applications, all without exposing those apps directly to the internet.

    We were then able to take an interim step and re-architect our network to take advantage of internet-based connectivity vs. legacy expensive MPLS. “On average, we increased speed by 10–20x, reduced latency to critical SaaS apps, and slashed cost by over 4x… Annualized savings [from network changes] have already achieved over $6.5M,” Philips has noted of the project.

    VB: How did shifting to zero trust actually reduce the security noise by such an enormous factor?

    Philips: A big reason is that our internet traffic now goes through a Security Service Edge (SSE) with full SSL inspection, sandboxing, and data loss prevention. Zscaler peers directly with Microsoft, so Office 365 traffic got faster and safer – users stopped trying to bypass controls because performance improved. After being denied SSL inspection with on-prem equipment, we finally got legal approval to decrypt SSL traffic since the cloud proxy does not give NOV access to spy on the data itself. That means malware hiding in encrypted streams started getting caught before hitting endpoints. In short, we shrunk the attack surface and let good traffic flow freely. Fewer threats in meant fewer alerts overall.

    John McLeod, NOV’s CISO, concurred that the “old network perimeter model doesn’t work in a hybrid world” and that an identity-centric cloud security stack was needed. By routing all enterprise traffic through cloud security layers (and even isolating risky web sessions via tools like Zscaler’s Zero Trust Browser), NOV dramatically cut down intrusion attempts. This comprehensive inspection capability is what enabled NOV to spot and stop threats that previously slipped through, slashing incident volumes by 35x.

    VB: Were there any unforeseen benefits to adopting Zero Trust you didn’t initially expect?

    Alex Philips: Yes, our users actually preferred the cloud-based Zero Trust experience over legacy VPN clients, so adoption was simple and gave us unprecedented agility for mobility, acquisitions, and even what we like to call “Black Swan Events”. For example, when COVID-19 hit, NOV was already prepared! I told my leadership team if all 27,500 of our users needed to work remotely, our IT systems could handle it. My leadership was stunned and our company kept moving forward without missing a beat.

    VB: Identity-based attacks are on the rise – you’ve mentioned staggering stats about credential theft. How is NOV fortifying identity and access management?

    Philips: Attackers know it’s often easier to log in with stolen credentials than to drop malware. In fact, 79% of attacks to gain initial access in 2024 were malware-free, relying on stolen credentials, AI-driven phishing, and deepfake scams, according to recent threat reports. One in three cloud intrusions last year involved valid credentials. We’ve tightened identity policies to make those tactics harder.

    For example, we integrated our Zscaler platform with Okta for identity and conditional access checks. Our conditional access policies verify devices have our SentinelOne antivirus agent running before granting access, adding an extra posture check. We’ve also drastically limited who can perform password or MFA resets. No single admin should be able to bypass authentication controls alone. This separation of duties prevents an insider or compromised account from simply turning off our protections.

    VB: You mentioned finding a gap even after disabling a user’s account. Can you explain?

    Philips: We discovered that if you detect and disable a compromised user’s account, the attacker’s session tokens might still be active. It isn’t enough to reset passwords; you have to revoke session tokens to truly kick out an intruder. We’re partnering with a startup to create near real-time token invalidation solutions for our most commonly used resources. Essentially, we want to make a stolen token useless within seconds. A Zero Trust architecture helps because everything is re-authenticated through a proxy or identity provider, giving us a single choke point to cancel tokens globally. That way, even if an attacker grabs a VPN cookie or cloud session, they can’t move laterally because we’ll kill that token fast.

    VB: How else are you securing identities at NOV?

    Philips: We enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) almost everywhere and monitor for abnormal access patterns. Okta, Zscaler, and SentinelOne together form an identity-driven security perimeter where each login and device posture is continuously verified. Even if someone steals a user password, they still face device checks, MFA challenges, conditional access rules, and the risk of instant session revocation if anything seems off. Resetting a password isn’t enough anymore — we must revoke session tokens instantly to stop lateral movement. That philosophy underpins NOV’s identity threat defense strategy.

    VB: You’ve also been an early adopter of AI in cybersecurity. How is NOV leveraging AI and generative models in the SOC?

    Philips: We have a relatively small security team for our global footprint, so we must work smarter. One approach is bringing AI “co-workers” into our security operations center (SOC). We partnered with SentinelOne and started using their AI security analyst tool—an AI that can write and run queries across our logs at machine speed. It’s been a game changer, allowing analysts to ask questions in plain English and get answers in seconds. Instead of manually crafting SQL queries, the AI suggests the next query or even auto-generates a report, which has dropped our mean time to respond.

    We’ve seen success stories where threat hunts are performed up to 80% faster using AI assistants. Microsoft’s own data shows that adding generative AI can reduce incident mean time to resolution by 30%. Beyond vendor tools, we’re also experimenting with internal AI bots for operational analytics, using OpenAI foundational AI models to help non-technical staff quickly query data. Of course, we have data protection guardrails in place so these AI solutions don’t leak sensitive information.

    VB: Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue. How do you engage NOV’s board and executives on cyber risk?

    Philips: I made it a priority to bring our board of directors along on our cyber journey. They don’t need the deep technical minutiae, but they do need to understand our risk posture. With generative AI exploding, for example, I briefed them on both the advantages and risks early on. That education helps when I propose controls to prevent data leaks—there’s already alignment on why it’s necessary.

    The board views cybersecurity as a core business risk now. They’re briefed on it at every meeting, not just once a year. We’ve even run tabletop exercises with them to show how an attack would play out, turning abstract threats into tangible decision points. That leads to stronger top-down support.

    I make it a point to constantly reinforce the reality of cyber risk. Even with millions invested in our cybersecurity program, the risk is never fully eliminated. It is not if we will have an incident, but when.

    VB: Any final advice, based on NOV’s journey, for other CIOs and CISOs out there?

    Philips: First, recognize that security transformation and digital transformation go hand in hand. We couldn’t have moved to the cloud or enabled remote work so effectively without Zero Trust, and the business cost savings helped fund security improvements. It truly was a “win, win, win.”

    Second, focus on the separation of duties in identity and access. No one person should be able to undermine your security controls—myself included. Small process changes like requiring two people to change MFA for an exec or highly privileged IT staff, can thwart malicious insiders, mistakes, and attackers.

    Lastly, embrace AI carefully but proactively. AI is already a reality on the attacker side. A well-implemented AI assistant can multiply your team’s defense, but you must manage the risks of data leakage or inaccurate models. Make sure to merge AI output with your team’s skill to create an AI-infused “brAIn”.

    We know the threats keep evolving, but with zero trust, strong identity security and now AI on our side, it helps give us a fighting chance.



  • AI has grown beyond human knowledge, says Google’s DeepMind unit

    AI has grown beyond human knowledge, says Google’s DeepMind unit


    abstract ai concept

    worawit chutrakunwanit/Getty Images

    The world of artificial intelligence (AI) has recently been preoccupied with advancing generative AI beyond simple tests that AI models easily pass. The famed Turing Test has been “beaten” in some sense, and controversy rages over whether the newest models are being built to game the benchmark tests that measure performance.

    The problem, say scholars at Google’s DeepMind unit, is not the tests themselves but the limited way AI models are developed. The data used to train AI is too restricted and static, and will never propel AI to new and better abilities. 

    In a paper posted by DeepMind last week, part of a forthcoming book by MIT Press, researchers propose that AI must be allowed to have “experiences” of a sort, interacting with the world to formulate goals based on signals from the environment.

    Also: With AI models clobbering every benchmark, it’s time for human evaluation

    “Incredible new capabilities will arise once the full potential of experiential learning is harnessed,” write DeepMind scholars David Silver and Richard Sutton in the paper, Welcome to the Era of Experience.

    The two scholars are legends in the field. Silver most famously led the research that resulted in AlphaZero, DeepMind’s AI model that beat humans in games of Chess and Go. Sutton is one of two Turing Award-winning developers of an AI approach called reinforcement learning that Silver and his team used to create AlphaZero. 

    The approach the two scholars advocate builds upon reinforcement learning and the lessons of AlphaZero. It’s called “streams” and is meant to remedy the shortcomings of today’s large language models (LLMs), which are developed solely to answer individual human questions.

    deepmind-2025-uses-of-reinforcement-learning

    Google DeepMind

    Silver and Sutton suggest that shortly after AlphaZero and its predecessor, AlphaGo, burst on the scene, generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, took the stage and “discarded” reinforcement learning. That move had benefits and drawbacks. 

    Also: OpenAI’s Deep Research has more fact-finding stamina than you, but it’s still wrong half the time

    Gen AI was an important advance because AlphaZero’s use of reinforcement learning was restricted to limited applications. The technology couldn’t go beyond “full information” games, such as Chess, where all the rules are known. 

    Gen AI models, on the other hand, can handle spontaneous input from humans never before encountered, without explicit rules about how things are supposed to turn out. 

    However, discarding reinforcement learning meant, “something was lost in this transition: an agent’s ability to self-discover its own knowledge,” they write.

    Instead, they observe that LLMs “[rely] on human prejudgment”, or what the human wants at the prompt stage. That approach is too limited. They suggest that human judgment “imposes “an impenetrable ceiling on the agent’s performance: the agent cannot discover better strategies underappreciated by the human rater.

    Not only is human judgment an impediment, but the short, clipped nature of prompt interactions never allows the AI model to advance beyond question and answer. 

    “In the era of human data, language-based AI has largely focused on short interaction episodes: e.g., a user asks a question and (perhaps after a few thinking steps or tool-use actions) the agent responds,” the researchers write.

    “The agent aims exclusively for outcomes within the current episode, such as directly answering a user’s question.” 

    There’s no memory, there’s no continuity between snippets of interaction in prompting. “Typically, little or no information carries over from one episode to the next, precluding any adaptation over time,” write Silver and Sutton. 

    Also: The AI model race has suddenly gotten a lot closer, say Stanford scholars

    However, in their proposed Age of Experience, “Agents will inhabit streams of experience, rather than short snippets of interaction.”

    Silver and Sutton draw an analogy between streams and humans learning over a lifetime of accumulated experience, and how they act based on long-range goals, not just the immediate task.

    “Powerful agents should have their own stream of experience that progresses, like humans, over a long time-scale,” they write.

    Silver and Sutton argue that “today’s technology” is enough to start building streams. In fact, the initial steps along the way can be seen in developments such as web-browsing AI agents, including OpenAI’s Deep Research. 

    “Recently, a new wave of prototype agents have started to interact with computers in an even more general manner, by using the same interface that humans use to operate a computer,” they write.

    The browser agent marks “a transition from exclusively human-privileged communication, to much more autonomous interactions where the agent is able to act independently in the world.”

    Also: The Turing Test has a problem – and OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 just exposed it

    As AI agents move beyond just web browsing, they need a way to interact and learn from the world, Silver and Sutton suggest. 

    They propose that the AI agents in streams will learn via the same reinforcement learning principle as AlphaZero. The machine is given a model of the world in which it interacts, akin to a chessboard, and a set of rules. 

    As the AI agent explores and takes actions, it receives feedback as “rewards”. These rewards train the AI model on what is more or less valuable among possible actions in a given circumstance.

    The world is full of various “signals” providing those rewards, if the agent is allowed to look for them, Silver and Sutton suggest.

    “Where do rewards come from, if not from human data? Once agents become connected to the world through rich action and observation spaces, there will be no shortage of grounded signals to provide a basis for reward. In fact, the world abounds with quantities such as cost, error rates, hunger, productivity, health metrics, climate metrics, profit, sales, exam results, success, visits, yields, stocks, likes, income, pleasure/pain, economic indicators, accuracy, power, distance, speed, efficiency, or energy consumption. In addition, there are innumerable additional signals arising from the occurrence of specific events, or from features derived from raw sequences of observations and actions.”

    To start the AI agent from a foundation, AI developers might use a “world model” simulation. The world model lets an AI model make predictions, test those predictions in the real world, and then use the reward signals to make the model more realistic. 

    “As the agent continues to interact with the world throughout its stream of experience, its dynamics model is continually updated to correct any errors in its predictions,” they write.

    Also: AI isn’t hitting a wall, it’s just getting too smart for benchmarks, says Anthropic

    Silver and Sutton still expect humans to have a role in defining goals, for which the signals and rewards serve to steer the agent. For example, a user might specify a broad goal such as ‘improve my fitness’, and the reward function might return a function of the user’s heart rate, sleep duration, and steps taken. Or the user might specify a goal of ‘help me learn Spanish’, and the reward function could return the user’s Spanish exam results.

    The human feedback becomes “the top-level goal” that all else serves.

    The researchers write that AI agents with those long-range capabilities would be better as AI assistants. They could track a person’s sleep and diet over months or years, providing health advice not limited to recent trends. Such agents could also be educational assistants tracking students over a long timeframe.

    “A science agent could pursue ambitious goals, such as discovering a new material or reducing carbon dioxide,” they offer. “Such an agent could analyse real-world observations over an extended period, developing and running simulations, and suggesting real-world experiments or interventions.”

    Also: ‘Humanity’s Last Exam’ benchmark is stumping top AI models – can you do any better?

    The researchers suggest that the arrival of “thinking” or “reasoning” AI models, such as Gemini, DeepSeek’s R1, and OpenAI’s o1, may be surpassed by experience agents. The problem with reasoning agents is that they “imitate” human language when they produce verbose output about steps to an answer, and human thought can be limited by its embedded assumptions. 

    “For example, if an agent had been trained to reason using human thoughts and expert answers from 5,000 years ago, it may have reasoned about a physical problem in terms of animism,” they offer. “1,000 years ago, it may have reasoned in theistic terms; 300 years ago, it may have reasoned in terms of Newtonian mechanics; and 50 years ago, in terms of quantum mechanics.”

    The researchers write that such agents “will unlock unprecedented capabilities,” leading to “a future profoundly different from anything we have seen before.” 

    However, they suggest there are also many, many risks. These risks are not just focused on AI agents making human labor obsolete, although they note that job loss is a risk. Agents that “can autonomously interact with the world over extended periods of time to achieve long-term goals,” they write, raise the prospect of humans having fewer opportunities to “intervene and mediate the agent’s actions.” 

    On the positive side, they suggest, an agent that can adapt, as opposed to today’s fixed AI models, “could recognise when its behaviour is triggering human concern, dissatisfaction, or distress, and adaptively modify its behaviour to avoid these negative consequences.”

    Also: Google claims Gemma 3 reaches 98% of DeepSeek’s accuracy – using only one GPU

    Leaving aside the details, Silver and Sutton are confident the streams experience will generate so much more information about the world that it will dwarf all the Wikipedia and Reddit data used to train today’s AI. Stream-based agents may even move past human intelligence, alluding to the arrival of artificial general intelligence, or super-intelligence.

    “Experiential data will eclipse the scale and quality of human-generated data,” the researchers write. “This paradigm shift, accompanied by algorithmic advancements in RL [reinforcement learning], will unlock in many domains new capabilities that surpass those possessed by any human.”

    Silver also explored the subject in a DeepMind podcast this month.




  • Lost Records: Bloom and Rage review: punk rock never dies

    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage review: punk rock never dies


    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage

    MSRP $40.00

    DT Recommended Product

    “Lost Records: Bloom and Rage pays tribute to 90s angst and the riot grrrl rock in a deeply moving coming of age story.”

    Pros

    • Natural dialogue flow
    • Authentic camcorder hook
    • Killer soundtrack
    • Fantastic coming of age story

    Cons

    • Takes a bit to get going
    • Supernatural mystery falls flat

    When you grow up in a small town, punk rock isn’t just music: It’s a lifeline. Fuzzed out guitars blaring out of garages become the soundtrack of rebellion. It’s the music that the cops tell you to turn down, that your parents can’t stand, that your politicians try to demonize. It is loud. It is antagonistic. And in Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, it is freedom.

    Set against the backdrop of 90s angst, the latest game from the creators of Life is Strange pays its respects to a riot grrrl movement that saved a generation. The narrative adventure tells a coming of age story about four teenage girls struggling find themselves in the confines of a suffocating town. It’s a jail cell where greasy locals play the role of guards, and the wailing guitars of Bratmobile’s Love Thing are enough to inspire a prison break.

    You can’t lock us in here forever. The bars won’t hold us. We’ll chew through them. And then eat you alive.

    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is a mature reinvention of the Life is Strange formula with an impressive dynamic range of emotions. It’s a slow burn, one that struggles to find the right balance between grounded realism and supernatural intrigue, but its heart thumps like a bass drum in the dead of night.

    The dream of the 90s

    Lost Records tells its mysterious story across two generations. In the present day, Swann returns to her hometown to reunite with a group of childhood friends that she hasn’t seen in decades. We begin to uncover why that is in a series of flashbacks to their days as rebellious kids in the 90s. In that story, Swann moves to town and connects with Nora, Kat, and Autumn. The quartet spend a formative summer bonding with one another over punk rock and transforming an abandoned shack into a safe hideaway from the dull town they can’t wait to break free from. It’s a sincere coming of age story about self discovery, queer identity, and learning what’s worth fighting back against. All of that happens in the shadow of a simmering supernatural mystery radiating from a glowing abyss in the woods.

    To tell that story, Don’t Nod employs the signature narrative hooks that defined Life is Strange. It’s a narrative filled with tough choices that lead to branching paths that shape where everything goes in both the past and present. There are several new tweaks to that formula, though, which go a long way. Choices, for instance, feel more natural here. They aren’t big, signposted moments that make it clear that players are facing a defining moment of the playthrough. I only realized how much my decisions had changed the story once I was finished and saw how many permutations of the story were possible. Lost Records feels more natural for it. Our lives and relationships are shaped just as much by the unassuming moments as they are the big choices.

    Lost Records creates plenty of quiet moments that make all the noise feel worthwhile.

    That idea is baked into the dialogue system, which isn’t just about choosing what to say next from a list of options. Don’t Nod encourages players to actually listen to the people they are talking to rather than focus solely on their responses. I’m often given a set of two or three dialogue options during conversations. If I’m impatient, I can choose one to butt into a conversation before my friends are done talking. But in some cases, a different dialogue option will pop up the longer I let the other person talk. That’s counterbalanced by the fact that I only get a short amount of time to say some respondes, otherwise my silence might be misinterpreted. That creates a great tension, as I need to balance being an active listener and saying what I really mean without hesitation. It better encapsulates the tricky nuances of communication, especially for a teenager trying to find her voice while not trying to embarrass herself in front of the cool girls.

    That natural touch is present in Lost Records’ best idea: its camcorder. Swann isn’t a musician like her friends, but rather a budding videographer who is always carrying a camera with her. While exploring between dialogue sequences, I can break out my camera and film everything from birds to scenic landscapes. It’s a clever stand-in for traditional collectibles that reinforce Swann’s desire to document the world around her.

    Recording a video in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
    Don’t Nod

    As someone who used to film on mini DV camcorders all the time as a kid, it’s a remarkably authentic recreation. My footage gets a grainy filter pulled straight from the era and I can use my DualSense’s gyroscope on PS5 to add natural handheld shake to it. The camera even continues filming for a half a second or so after I hit record, leading to shots that end in a quick pan down to my feet before the cut, just as so many of my real life shots used to.

    Small touches like that create a more tangible vision of the 90s rather than one that panders to hollow nostalgia. It wasn’t all just Furbys and Moon Shoes. It was a time defined by angst, leading to a counter-culture revolution that birthed fierce bands like Sleater-Kinney. I can feel the unrest of the era as songs by riot grrrl legends like Babes in Toyland soundtrack Swann’s development. That punk spirit is balanced out by moments of peace and tenderness, as I spend summer lounging in the woods with my friends. The evocative visuals so effectively capture the warmth that I can practically hear the mosquitos buzzing in my ears and feel the sun on my skin. Rebellion is motivated by the belief that the world can be better; Lost Records creates plenty of quiet moments that make all the noise feel worthwhile.

    Growth through rebellion

    Those gameplay systems create a backbone for Lost Records’ fantastic story, though it’s one that requires a lot of patience and trust. The narrative is split into two “tapes,” dubbed Bloom and Rage respectively. That episodic split is a bit misleading, as it creates the sense that the story is going to be filled with cliffhangers and twists like Life is Strange before it. That’s not the case, and it makes the first half hard to totally grapple with initially. In actuality, Lost Records is a slow-burn coming of age story that’s just as comfortable watching its cast lounge in the woods as it is teasing out a supernatural mystery.

    The two parts should be taken less as TV episodes and more as one complete arc divided by a key emotional turn. The nuance is in the naming. Bloom is a fitting title for Tape 1 as it’s largely focused on the girls growing alongside one another. Swann begins the chapter as a shy kid who struggles with body image issues, but she slowly starts to find herself through days spent documenting her friends’ messy garage jams. Player choice helps make that feel more authentic. In my playthrough, I wanted to start a romance with Nora, but I was intimidated. Nora is the definition of 90s cool, a spitting image of Kathleen Hanna. I felt too shy to pursue obvious flirts initially. It took time for me to test the waters through the story, eventually gaining the confidence to make a move after lots of careful prodding. The moment where it all came together didn’t feel mechanical, achieved through an optimized dialogue path; it felt like Swann landed exactly where she belonged on her terms.

    Tragedy does not invalidate all the love and joy we experience.

    Just as important as the girls’ relationships to one another is their relationship to rebellion. In Bloom, it’s an act of play. A garage becomes a secret base where they can shout their lungs out in peace. Their hideout in the woods almost feels like an imaginary place. Punk rock is a dress up game. The more they embrace the riot grrrl ethos, the more they accept that it’s not something they have to keep a secret. It all culminates in Bloom’s climax, a pop-up punk show meant to cause a visible disruption in their small town.

    Then comes Rage.

    Reality sets in as Tape 2 begins, taking the story in an unexpected, sobering direction. It’s easy to rage against the machine by shredding, but a revelation about a character’s health puts the girls in a fight that they can’t win as easily. Their frustration begins to boil over as they scream at a monster with no ears. The innocence and joy of the first half gives way to vandalism and arson as the quartet tries to push back against the forces of life and death in any way they can. It’s a powerful expression of raw anger, which makes it all the more disruptive when the story detours into a supernatural, neon-soaked climax that needlessly teases a sequel. Those otherworldly elements are more effective when they’re used as backburner metaphors for the girls’ angst, which deepens like a never ending abyss.

    It’s only once we emerge from Tape 2’s big revelation that Lost Records really pays off its slow build. That’s when the girls, now fully formed adults who have gone their separate ways, can reflect on what that period in their life really meant to them. It wasn’t just the moments of bliss that were formative, but the anger and sorrow too. Tragedy does not invalidate all the love and joy we experience; it sharpens those feelings and makes the people who help us get through it all the more precious.

    First person gameplay in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
    Don’t Nod

    I think back to my own days as a punk rocker in a small town. Late in my high school years, I was a bassist for a band called Aguasaurus. What began as a bunch of unskilled musicians covering Creep to a crowd of our friends soon became an outlet for pushing our town out of its comfort zone. We showed up to an acoustic coffee house show with a fully electric setup and thrashed. We played a set at our town’s summer student music festival where we played the same song seven times. During one set, we simply got on stage, played a recording of a DMX song, and then left. We thought it was a rebellion against our boring classmates and teachers, but it was about pushing ourselves more than anything. It helped us understand our relationship with authority. We became bolder, more creative, less scared of confrontation. It was liberating, as if we were caged animals smashing through the bars. The few sets we played shaped me into who I am today, something I couldn’t fully understand at the time.

    Decades later, I attended a funeral for our guitarist. It was the most painful experience of my life and I still carry the scars from seeing his body lying in an open casket to this day. After the viewing, my childhood friends and I all got together to reminisce. We spent the rest of the evening telling stories about all the stuff we managed to get away with in high school. Aguasaurus inevitably came up and the surviving bandmates and I told tall tales of our messy practices and even messier live shows. For a brief moment, I was no longer focused on the fact that my friend had been tragically taken from us too soon. I was grateful that we got to share the stage together so many times and use our music as weapons. His off-tempo guitar riffs still echo through my body. There’s electricity in my blood. I carry the spirit of punk rock with me every day, just as I feel that Nora still must even after trading in her guitar for a subdued adult life.

    You can’t stamp out a rebellion once the sparks have been lit. It is a fire that will always burn within me, only glowing brighter to honor each fallen comrade. Punk rock never dies.

    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage was tested on PS5 Pro.







  • Panasonic S1R II review: An excellent hybrid camera that’s cheaper than rivals

    Panasonic S1R II review: An excellent hybrid camera that’s cheaper than rivals


    With the A1, Sony was the first to introduce a high-resolution hybrid camera that was equally adept at stills and video — but boy was it expensive. Nikon and Canon followed that template with the R5 II and Z8 models that offered similar capabilities for less money, but those were still well north of $4,000.

    Enter the S1R II. It’s Panasonic’s first camera that can not only shoot up to 8K video at the company’s usual high standards, but also capture 44-megapixel (MP) photos in rapid bursts. And unlike its rivals, the new model is available at a more reasonable $3,300 — half the price of Sony’s A1 II. At the same time, it’s a massive upgrade over the original S1R.

    The main catch is the lack of a high-speed stacked sensor found in the other models, which can cause some skewing in both images and video. As I discovered, though, that tradeoff is well worth it for the lower price and picture quality that matches its competition. All of that makes the S1R II Panasonic’s best camera yet and a very tempting option in the high-resolution mirrorless category.

    The S1R II is similar to other recent Panasonic models like the GH7 in terms of the design and control layout. It’s much lighter than the original S1R at 1.75 pounds compared to 2.24 pounds, so it’s less tiresome to carry around all day. As for handling, the massive grip has a ridge where your fingertips sit, making it nearly impossible to drop. The rubberized exterior is easy on the hands, though not quite as nice as the R5 II’s softer material.

    I’ve always liked Panasonic’s controls and in that regard the S1R II may be the company’s best model yet. Along with a joystick and dials on the top front, top back and rear, it has lockable mode and burst shooting dials on top. You also get a dedicated button for photos, video and slow and quick (S&Q) modes, each with separate settings. There’s a dedicated autofocus switch, video record buttons both on top and front, a tally light and multiple programmable buttons.

    The menu system is equally good, with logical color-coded menus and submenus. You can also rapidly find your most-used functions in the quick menu. All of that allowed me to shoot photos and video without fumbling for settings. You can also fully program buttons, dials and the quick menu to your own preferences.

    The Panasonic S1R II's versatile tilting and folding display
    Steve Dent for Engadget

    The rear display is great for content creators and photographers alike. It tilts up and down to allow for easy overhead or shoot-from-the hip photography and also swivels out to the side so vloggers can conveniently film themselves. It’s very sharp and bright enough to use on sunny days. The electronic viewfinder is also excellent with 5.76 million dots of resolution and 100 percent magnification, matching Canon’s R5 II and beating the Nikon Z8.

    Battery life isn’t a strong point, though, with 350 shots on a charge or just 280 when using the electronic viewfinder — far below the 640 shots allowed by the R5 II. It also only allows just over an hour of start-and-stop video shooting. However, Panasonic’s optional DMW-BG2 battery grip doubles endurance and also allows for battery hot-swapping.

    The S1R II supports both SDXC UHS II and much faster CFexpress Type B cards, while also supporting SSD capture via the USB-C port like the S5 IIX and GH7. The latter two storage methods enable shooting in high-bandwidth RAW and ProRes to maximize quality.

    Panasonic also included a full-sized HDMI port along with microphone and headphone jacks. For the best possible sound quality, the optional XLR2 accessory lets you capture four channels at up to 32-bit float quality to reduce the possibility of clipped audio. And finally, the S1R II is Panasonic’s first mirrorless model with a protective carbon fiber curtain that comes down to protect the sensor, just like recent Canon and Sony models.

    The Panasonic S1R II offers burst shooting speeds up to 40 fps in electronic shutter mode.
    Steve Dent for Engadget

    Although the original S1R could only manage an anemic 6 fps burst speeds, its successor can hit 40 RAW images per second in silent electronic mode, beating all its rivals — though shooting at that speed limits quality to 12-bit RAW. To get 14-bit quality, you need to use the mechanical shutter for burst shooting which tops out at 9 fps.

    However, the Panasonic S1R II doesn’t have a fast stacked sensor like rivals. The result is rolling shutter that can be a problem in some circumstances, like shooting race cars, propellers or golf swings. However, it does outperform many other non-stacked high-resolution cameras like Sony’s A7R V and Panasonic’s own S5 IIX in that area.

    Pre-burst capture is now available and starts when you half-press the shutter. That lets you save up to 1.5 seconds of photos you might have otherwise missed once you fully press the shutter button.

    With an overhauled phase-detect autofocus system and a new, faster processor, the S1R II features Panasonic’s fastest and smartest AF system yet. It can now lock onto a subject’s face and eyes quicker and follow their movements more smoothly, while also detecting and automatically switching between humans, animals, cars, motorcycles, bikes, trains and airplanes. I found it to be fast and generally reliable, but it’s still not quite up to Sony’s and Canon’s standards for speed and accuracy.

    Panasonic boosted in-body stabilization to 8 stops. That’s nearly on par with rivals, though Canon leads the way with 8.5 stops on the R5 II. Still, it lets you freeze action at shutter speeds as low as a quarter second in case you want to blur waterfalls or moving cars when shooting handheld.

    Photo quality is outstanding with detail as good as rivals, though understandably short of Sony’s 61-megapixel A7R V. Colors are as accurate as I’ve seen on any recent camera, matching or even beating Canon’s excellent R5 II. My pro photographer friends took a number of shots with the S1R II and found it slightly superior to their Sony A1, noting that they rarely needed to white balance in post.

    Thanks to the dual-ISO backside-illuminated sensor, low-light capability is excellent for a high-resolution camera, with noise well controlled up to ISO 12,800. Beyond that, grain becomes more problematic and shadows can take on a green cast. JPEG noise reduction does a good job retaining detail while suppressing noise, but gets overly aggressive above ISO 6,400.

    If 44MP isn’t enough, the S1R II offers a high-resolution mode that captures eight images with a slightly offset sensor position and composes them into a single 177 megapixel file (either RAW or JPEG). It can supposedly be used without a tripod, though I found I had to remain very still to get decent images when doing so.

    The S1R II is Panasonic’s best mirrorless camera yet for video, albeit with some caveats I’ll discuss soon. You can capture up to 8K 30p 10-bit video at a reasonably high 300 Mbps, close to what Sony’s far more expensive A1 can do. Better still, it supports oversampled 5.8K ProRes RAW video internally with no crop for maximum dynamic range, or 4K video at up to 120 fps. Finally, the S1R II is capable of “open gate” 3:2 capture of the full sensor at up to 6.4K (and 8K down the road via a firmware update), making it easy to shoot all types of formats at once, including vertical video for social media.

    The Panasonic S1R II is an excellent vlogging camera thanks to the innovative stabilization system.
    Steve Dent for Engadget

    Some of these resolutions, particularly the 5.9K 60 fps and 4K 120 fps modes come with a slight crop of about 1.1x and 1.04x, respectively. 4K 120 fps also uses pixel binning, which introduces a loss of resolution and other artifacts like rainbow-colored moire.

    That takes us to the main downside: rolling shutter. The S1R II is actually a bit better than the S5 II in that regard, with a total readout speed of about 1/40th of a second, or about 25 milliseconds at any of the full sensor readout resolutions (8K or 5.8K). That can result in wobble or skew if you whip the camera around or film fast-moving objects. However, it’s acceptable for regular handheld shooting.

    One complication is Panasonic’s dynamic range expansion (DRE) that boosts video dynamic range by a stop, mostly in an image’s highlights. Enabling that feature makes rolling shutter worse.

    Should you need to reduce rolling shutter, you can simply disable DRE without a big hit in quality. And shooting 4K at 60p minimizes rolling shutter so that it’s nearly on par with stacked sensor cameras, while still offering high-quality footage with just a slight crop.

    As for video quality, it’s razor sharp and color rendition is accurate and pleasing. Dynamic range is on the high end of cameras I’ve tested at close to 14 stops when shooting with Panasonic’s V-log, allowing excellent shadow and highlight recovery, especially in DRE mode. It’s still very good without DRE though, particularly if you’re not shooting in bright and sunny conditions.

    Video still from the Panasonic S1R II
    Frame grab from Panasonic S1R II 8K video
    Steve Dent for Engadget

    Video AF is also strong, keeping even quick-moving subjects in focus. Face, eye, animal and vehicle detection work well, though again, the system isn’t quite as reliable as what I saw on Sony and Canon’s latest models.

    The S1R II offers more stabilization options than its rivals, though. Optical stabilization provides good results for handheld video, while electronic stabilization (EIS) smooths things further . Cranking that up to the most aggressive high EIS setting provides gimbal-like smoothness but introduces a significant 1.5x crop.

    Along with those, Panasonic introduced something called “cropless” EIS. That setting takes advantage of unused areas of the sensor to correct corner distortion typical with wide angle lenses while also fixing skew. I found it worked very well to reduce rolling shutter even for quick pans and walking, which may help alleviate such concerns for some creators.

    So yes, rolling shutter wobble is worse on this camera than rivals like the R5 II. However, there are ways to work around it. If minimal skewing is a critical feature then don’t buy the S1R II, but it shouldn’t be an issue for most users, particularly at this price.

    The Panasonic S1R II is one of the nicest handling cameras out there.
    Steve Dent for Engadget

    The S1R II is Panasonic’s best hybrid mirrorless camera to date, offering a great balance of photography and video powers. It’s also the cheapest new camera in the high-resolution hybrid full-frame category, undercutting rivals like Canon’s R5 II and the Nikon Z8.

    The main downside is rolling shutter that primarily affects video. As I mentioned, though, it won’t pose a problem for many content creators and there are workarounds. Aside from that, it delivers outstanding photo and video quality while offering innovative features like cropless electronic stabilization.

    If you need even more resolution, Sony’s 61MP A7R V offers slightly better image quality. And if rolling shutter is really an issue then I’d recommend Canon’s R5 II (though that model does cost $1,000 more) or the Nikon Z8. Should you want to spend considerably less, the Canon R6 II or even Panasonic’s S5 II or S5 IIx are solid picks. For other hybrid shooters, though, Panasonic’s S1R II is a great choice.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/panasonic-s1r-ii-review-an-excellent-hybrid-camera-thats-cheaper-than-rivals-163013065.html?src=rss


  • Bionic Bay Review: A speedrunners delight

    Bionic Bay Review: A speedrunners delight



    Let’s get this out of the way: Bionic Bay is going to be compared to Limbo and Inside. A lot. It’s inevitable. Psychoflow Studios, in collaboration with Mureena Oy, has delivered what feels like a sci-fi reimagining of Playdead’s moody 2010 classic. The visual storytelling, the shadowy menace, the precisely brutal puzzles — it’s all here, reassembled with a slick, biomechanical sheen.

    But don’t mistake Bionic Bay for a copycat. Beneath the familiar silhouette lies a wildly inventive and occasionally maddening precision platformer that plays like a love letter to physics. This isn’t just puzzle-solving; it’s gravity-bending, object-swapping, mid-air improvisation that can make you feel like a time-warping parkour demigod when it all clicks.

    Clocking in at around 8–10 hours (depending on how reckless or masochistic you are), it’s tightly paced — though not always evenly. I played on PlayStation 5, and somewhere in the middle of its surreal, flesh-and-metal dreamscape, I found myself wondering: How the hell are they going to top this?

    Welcome to the Otherworld

    Character floats midair in a chaotic mechanical environment glowing with orange light.


    Credit: Psychoflow Studios / Mureena Oy / Kepler Interactive

    Bionic Bay technically has a story, but don’t expect much of a narrative to latch onto. Most of it unfolds through cryptic text logs that pop up as you stumble across the corpses of long-dead scientists, scattered like breadcrumbs across this eerie, decaying world.

    From what my very smooth, very confused brain could piece together, you’re the unfortunate scientist who has survived an experiment gone sideways — catapulted into the guts of an ancient, hyper-advanced alien civilization. That’s…pretty much it. And honestly, that’s fine. The “plot” is more ambient than essential — it’s just vibes, bro. Really, it’s just an excuse to hurl yourself over chasms wider than your rent bill.

    Thankfully, you’re not doing it alone, or entirely as a human. Early on, the game zaps you with a genetic upgrade called “elasticity,” essentially turning your character from discount Gordon Freeman into a wall-bouncing, momentum-bending physics god.

    As you progress, Bionic Bay hands you a trio of reality-breaking tools that would make any physics professor sweat. First up: a transporter that lets you swap places with nearby objects. Then there’s the Chronolag, a pair of sunglasses that slows time in a tight radius around you. Finally, the gravitational backpack, a piece of high-tech wizardry that lets you rotate the direction of gravity with a flick of the right stick.

    Naturally, these gadgets come with caveats. The swap tool only works with objects currently on screen (no teleporting cheese here). The Chronolag is limited to a tense 30 seconds and cuts off the second you take damage or go full ragdoll. The gravity backpack allows for two midair uses — after that, you’re out of tricks and headed straight for a hard landing.

    But despite the limitations, or even because of them, each tool is essential to cracking Bionic Bay’s brutally tight puzzle platforming. And I mean tight. These puzzles don’t just flirt with precision; they demand pixel-perfect timing and surgical object placement. Especially in the later levels, success hinges on mastering momentum, nailing swaps mid-fall, and contorting through gaps designed to mock your sense of space and rhythm.

    Even with all the high-tech tools at your disposal, mastering your own movement is essential to solving Bionic Bay’s intricate puzzles. One of the most versatile mechanics is the dash, triggered with the Circle button. It sends your character hurtling forward in a curled, high-speed motion — part movement boost, part crouch — perfect for slipping through tight gaps or gaining momentum.

    The dash can also be chained with jumps for extended traversal. Combining it with the X button allows for long, arcing leaps that feel like controlled bursts of flight. In practice, it’s a rhythmic sequence: dash, jump, dash again. The Circle button also functions as a dive midair, letting you fine-tune your trajectory or squeeze through narrow environmental windows with just the right amount of force.

    A solution for everyone

    Underwater scene with a character being hoisted by a mechanical figure.


    Credit: Psychoflow Studios / Mureena Oy / Kepler Interactive

    The environments in Bionic Bay aren’t just backdrops — they’re fully interactive playgrounds where the rules are loose, and experimentation is everything. Most puzzles don’t lock you into a single solution; instead, they hand you a toolbox and let your grasp of the game’s intricate physics system guide the way. Getting from point A to point B is less about following a path and more about inventing one, usually while avoiding hazards like vaporizing lasers, insta-freeze traps, and an absurd number of explosive land mines.

    Take one scenario: I needed to reach a high cliff from ground level. One option was to roll a barrel into place, launch myself off it, swap positions mid-air, race over to climb the object, jump off it, and grab the ledge. Another route? Use the land mines — delicately timed detonation included — to catapult me skyward using the previously mentioned object as a shield. The game doesn’t just allow for creativity; it thrives on it, practically begging players to break it in the most stylish ways possible. It’s built for the kind of player who sees every mechanic as a potential exploit, and Bionic Bay rewards that mentality at every turn.

    Bionic Bay drips with atmosphere — equal parts decaying alien architecture and rusted industrial labyrinth. In one moment, you’re dwarfed by writhing, root-like structures lit by an amber glow that feels almost biblical in its intensity. In the next, you’re navigating a colossal tangle of mechanical guts like massive gears, broken scaffolding, and planet-sized orbs suspended in shafts of scorching light. It’s biomechanical horror meets cosmic wonder, with every frame soaked in grime, heat, and a strange, almost sacred silence. It’s haunting, oppressive, and stunningly beautiful all at once.

    Bionic Bay walks a fine line visually. Despite the protagonist being mostly a black silhouette, the environments are detailed enough that you never lose track of him, even in the most chaotic moments. And — maybe this dates me — but the contrast between the character and the background instantly brought Vector to mind, that sleek parkour side-scroller from the iOS glory days of 2012. It’s as if Psychoflow took that minimalist, kinetic style and mashed it together with moody pixel art, otherworldly concept design, and the eerie tone of Limbo.

    The result is something familiar yet fresh, a visual identity that feels both nostalgic and completely alien.

    Is Bionic Bay worth it?

    Red-lit hexagonal chamber with a glowing central orb and silhouetted figure observing it.


    Credit: Psychoflow Studios / Mureena Oy / Kepler Interactive

    Performance-wise, there’s not much to complain about. Bionic Bay runs smoothly on PS5, with just a single framerate dip cropping up late in the game. I’m curious to see how the online mode holds up, but since I was playing on a pre-release build, the multiplayer was a ghost town even after I unlocked it by finishing the main campaign.

    As for sound design, I was fully locked in. The soundtrack rarely takes center stage, but when it does, it hits — pulsing synths that creep in and swell at just the right moments, adding a heavy, unnerving layer to the game’s far-future horror vibe. It looks great, it sounds great, and while the single-player campaign does drag a bit in the middle, it’s a gorgeous slog. A stylish, ambient descent into mechanical madness that knows how to hold your attention, even when it’s testing your patience.

    Bionic Bay is absolutely worth your time, especially if you’re the kind of player who thrives on challenge, experimentation, and atmospheric immersion. It doesn’t reinvent the puzzle platformer but pushes the genre in a clever direction with its physics-driven mechanics and open-ended puzzle design. It’s a game that respects your intelligence and rewards your curiosity while looking like a fever dream built from scrap metal and alien roots.

    It’s not perfect — the pacing stumbles in the middle, and the story barely registers — but the overall experience is too striking to ignore. For fans of Limbo, Inside, or even old-school Vector, Bionic Bay is a beautifully harsh evolution of the genre. Just be prepared to die. A lot.

    For more Mashable game reviews, check out our OpenCritic page.


  • How to use Apple Software Restore to clone your Mac’s drive

    How to use Apple Software Restore to clone your Mac’s drive


    Apple Software Restore lets you clone your Mac even with a Signed System Volume. Here’s how to use it to copy your Mac’s storage.

    For a variety of reasons, you may want to make a clone of your Startup Disk on your Mac. This can include software testing, backups, configuration, or many other reasons.

    In the past on macOS this was relatively easy, but that changed with macOS Big Sur because Apple added what is known as a Signed System Volume to each macOS Startup Disk. Signed System Volumes are encoded with a special cryptographic marker for that one installation.

    If you try to clone a Signed System Volume or copy it, the copy will fail. Apple does this on purpose to prevent theft of Startup Disk volumes – and to prevent malicious software (malware) from hacking the macOS installed on Startup Disks.

    Ever since Apple added Signed System Volumes, most third-party clone software also won’t work. Or at least they won’t work when trying to create a bootable clone of a macOS system volume.

    There is, however, one way to still clone macOS drives since macOS Big Sur that does work: Apple Software Restore (ASR).

    Using ASR, you can use a part of macOS to copy a Startup Disk volume, then set it as an authorized (signed) volume, which will boot successfully.

    You can also use ASR to restore disk image (.dmg) files to physical disk volumes. In fact, when you do a Restore from within macOS’s Disk Utility, it uses ASR under the hood to perform the Restore.

    How to clone your Startup Disk using ASR

    This guide covers macOS Catalina or later. For earlier versions of macOS, the process is slightly different.

    To make a clone on an Apple Silicon Mac, you must have a copy of macOS installed on the target. You’ll need it to make the clone bootable for your Mac, as this process doesn’t work if you try to clone onto an empty drive on a Mac.

    For cloning on an Apple Silicon Mac, you must be using macOS Monterey or later. macOS Big Sur or earlier won’t work.

    You also can’t cross-boot a cloned drive, i.e., you can’t boot a clone made on an Intel Mac on an Apple Silicon Mac or vice versa.

    Terminal needs full disk access in order to perform the clone operation.
    Grant full disk access to the Terminal app in System Settings.

    Also, be aware that any FileVault encryption your source drive uses will not be copied to the target. If you want to use FileVault on the target after cloning, you must boot into the cloned drive, re-enable FileVault, and allow it to re-encrypt the drive.

    You’ll also need to be comfortable using macOS’s Terminal app and in using disk volumes and the macOS Finder. A system administrator password is required to perform the cloning.

    The Terminal app also needs to be granted Full Disk Access in System Settings->Privacy & Security->Full Disk Access in order for the cloning process to work. If Terminal doesn’t appear in the list of apps to grant access to, click the + button and add it to the list from the /Applications/Utilities folder on your Startup Disk.

    Choose source and destination volumes

    The disk volume you want to clone is called the source volume, and the drive you want to clone it to is called the destination. The destination should be an Apple File System (APFS) Container, but it can also be a single volume.

    The source and destination can be on the same drive, but it’s not recommended in case something goes wrong or in case errors occur during cloning.

    Either or both the source and destination drives can be an internal drive inside your Mac or an external drive. You can also clone from a Disk Utility disk image if it was also previously made using ASR.

    If you want to set up an unformatted external drive to use for the clone, first erase it using macOS’s Disk Utility app located on your Startup Disk at /Applications/Utilities.

    Warning: Be aware that using Disk Utility makes it easy to erase drives and destroy data. You may want to unplug any additional external drives connected to your Mac first.

    Always back up your data before erasing any drive.

    Once you have Disk Utility running on your Mac, select View->Show All Devices in the menu bar, then click the disk drive you want to erase from the list on the left. Be sure to select a top-level physical drive from the list, and not a volume or container on a drive.

    When you’ve confirmed this is the drive you want to erase, click the Erase button in Disk Utility’s main window. This will erase all volumes and software on the disk, including any other volumes present. You cannot undo this action, so be sure to choose the device to erase carefully.

    Disk Utility can Erase new drives for use as a clone.
    Use Disk Utility to erase a new drive for use as an ASR target.

    In the Erase sheet, give the new volume a name, and set the Format: pop-up menu to APFS. If there’s a Scheme: pop-up menu present, set it to GUID Partition Map, and click the Erase button. This Erases the disk.

    Once the Erase process completes, you’ll see a single new empty disk volume mount on the Finder’s Desktop. Quit Disk Utility.

    View disk and volume info in Terminal

    For this next step, you may want to first eject and unplug all storage devices from your Mac except for the ones containing the source and destination disks. Doing so makes this step easier.

    Next, you’ll need to view the specifics of your source and destination drives in macOS’s Terminal app to gather some data needed for ASR. To do so, open the Terminal app on your Startup Disk at /Applications/Utilities.

    Then, in Terminal type:

    diskutil list and press Return on your keyboard.

    This displays info about all storage devices connected to your Mac, including their BSD (UNIX) device entries. Each drive entry listed in the /dev directory includes:

    1. Drive partition or container scheme

    2. A list of volumes on each device

    3. The type, name, ID, and size of each volume on each device

    For example, the first device might have a device entry of /dev/disk0 and one or more sequentially numbered volumes (partitions) on it, starting with a partition name such as disk0s1. Additional volumes will have similar names with increasing partition numbers.

    You’ll also note that the last component of each device entry is the BSD disk name, and it always matches the disk name of the partition scheme listed under the IDENTIFIER column. For example, /dev/disk0 always has a partition scheme with an ID of disk0. The same is true for additional drives.

    This helps you remember which volumes belong to which devices.

    Next, note down the device entries and volume (partition) names and identifiers of the source and destination volumes you want to use for the cloning operation.

    This is really important to do. If you specify an incorrect volume identifier as the destination disk during cloning, all its data may be destroyed, and there’s no way to undo it.

    Take your time and be careful.

    Terminal's diskutil command in macOS which allows you to view storage device info.
    Viewing device info on the Mac using the diskutil command in Terminal.

    You may also notice in the disk list several partitions with names such as Apple_APFS_ISC and Apple_APFS_Recovery. These are special hidden volumes used by macOS, and you shouldn’t touch them. Doing so may render your Mac unbootable.

    Device and volume confusion

    Apple File System (APFS) can be a bit confusing sometimes.

    This is due mainly to two concepts: container disks (usually of type Apple_APFS) and synthesized or virtual volumes. Container disks can contain other volumes.

    A container works as a sort of wrapper around one or more other volumes, all of which can be of different types.

    Containers are useful because they enable the manipulation of multiple volumes at once, such as copying, cloning, and repairing. Containers also provide some additional internal information in case there’s a problem with one or more of the volumes they contain.

    When you expand a container, it can then be treated as a device and the volumes it contains can be manipulated individually.

    Also be aware that partitions of type Apple_APFS are different than partitions of type APFS Volume and APFS Snapshot. This is because in APFS, containers can be expanded as if they were physical devices, and their wrapped volumes displayed as if they were volumes on a real, physical device.

    In macOS, Apple_APFS almost always represents a container, and APFS Volume almost always represents a single, individual volume.

    Once you understand this, it’s easy to see how a Container device entry in the diskutil list can be confused for a real, physical device. Again – be careful.

    Next to each device entry, you’ll notice a description in parentheses to indicate if the drive is a real, physical drive or a synthesized one. So, for example, you might see (internal, physical) or (synthesized) next to a device entry.

    All of this can be very confusing and lead to potential errors when using the diskutil command and Terminal. This is because, in some cases, it’s possible to have a virtual device entry that is actually a container on a real, physical device.

    Such virtual devices will usually somewhere in their volume list contain the empty label Physical Store followed by the partition identifier of the partition on the real, physical device they point back to.

    For example, you may see a container scheme line in a virtual device entry’s list, followed by a blank line which contains only the label “Physical Store”, such as:

    Physical Store disk0s2

    Usually, right after that line will be listed the APFS volumes themselves, for example:

    APFS Volume Untitled 460.0 KB disk3s1

    This indicates that the container scheme itself points back to an Apple_APFS Container on a physical disk. And usually in these cases, a APFS Container Scheme‘s size will be identical to the Apple_APFS Container it points back to.

    Tiny APFS Volume entries listed in the KB size range usually indicate the disk was newly erased with a single empty volume on it. To clone into a container, you can either remove all volumes inside it or merely add your clone as a new volume into it.

    Contrary to what you might think, it’s entirely possible to add a clone into the container that contains the volume macOS is currently booted into. We’ll get to this below.

    Also, before you start the clone, make sure the destination has enough space to hold the full size of the entire clone. If it doesn’t, the clone will fail.

    This includes any recovery and boot partitions marked with “Preboot” or “Recovery” if you’re cloning an entire device. You should probably allow for a little extra space in case ASR needs to move things around. A few GB should be enough.

    To summarize the above example:

    1. disk0 – a real, physical device entry with a GUID_partition_scheme on it

    2. disk0s2 – an Apple_APFS container on physical disk0

    3. disk3s1 – an APFS Volume on a synthesized device (disk3) with a APFS Container Scheme on it

    4. Physical Store disk0s2 – The identifier of the Apple_APFS on the physical device from which disk3 was synthesized

    Probably the biggest gotcha in trying to understand all this is that the IDENTIFIER of the parent Apple_APFS container appears in the text of the “Physical Store” label in the NAME column on the synthesized child device entry (just before its volume list).

    Once you grasp that relationship, understanding APFS becomes much easier.

    Don’t worry if all this is confusing. APFS takes quite some time to get used to and understand. You’ll get it eventually.

    The upshot of all this is that when running ASR to clone a volume, you have to be careful about which volume you target as your destination. If you make a mistake, it’s very easy to wipe out a container, which also wipes out all the volumes it references.

    You can target a Container as the destination, but you have to be careful about how you do it.

    It’s easy to determine the source and destination volumes in the diskutil list by looking for the Container or volume names you want in the NAME column (such as “Macintosh HD”, for example). But be aware it’s possible in macOS to have two volumes with identical names, but with a different IDENTIFIER for each.

    Prepare for cloning

    Once you’ve done all of the above and verified everything, it’s time to start the clone operation. For this example, we’ll assume you’re running macOS Monterey or later.

    If the destination is an APFS Container and it contains the volume macOS is currently booted into, you must restart your Mac into Recovery Mode.

    The steps for doing this are different if you’re using an Intel or Apple Silicon Mac. Apple also has a Intro to macOS Recovery page.

    This is necessary to avoid restrictions imposed by System Integrity Protection. If the destination doesn’t contain the currently booted macOS volume, you can run ASR from Terminal without restarting.

    Oddly, next you must make sure either FileVault or Find My Mac is enabled. This ensures Recovery Assistant will appear after a restart and ask you for an admin password.

    Without this, ASR will fail.

    Restart using the instructions from Apple above to boot into Recovery Mode. Once in Recovery Mode, select Utilities->Terminal from the menu bar.

    Once in Terminal, run diskutil list as you did above. Note that the IDs for containers and volumes may have changed.

    If the source has FileVault enabled, you’ll need to unlock its data volume it with two commands in Terminal:

    diskutil apfs listvolumegroups

    diskutil apfs unlock

    If you’re running ASR without running in Recovery Mode, you’ll need to instead unlock using the diskutil apfs unlock command followed by the data volume. For example:

    diskutil apfs unlock disk2s2

    The data volume is a separate volume that resides next to the actual bootable macOS volume. So, for example, if your bootable Mac volume is named “Macintosh HD”, you’ll also see a second volume next to it named “Macintosh HD – Data”.

    Prepare snapshots for cloning

    Signed System Volumes contain a sealed snapshot of the copy of macOS that is on the Startup Disk. These snapshots are used to preserve the security of the installed OS to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.

    In order to use these snapshots on the destination, they must be copied over as-is. In order for ASR to make the snapshot copy, it has to know what the snapshot’s name or unique ID (UUID) is.

    To get the snapshot UUID or name in Terminal, note the diskutil ID of the source’s system volume (for example ‘disk2s1’) in the IDENTIFIER column with:

    diskutil mount disk2s1

    This forces the volume to be mounted by macOS. Note this is the volume with macOS on it – not the Data volume.

    Terminal will display the mounted volume name and echo back the ID when it does.

    Next run:

    diskutil apfs listsnapshots disk2s1

    This displays the sealed snapshot’s name and UUID on this volume. If you get an error, go back and make sure the volume or Container ID you specified matches the one containing the macOS installation.

    You should see something like:

    i7@i7s-Mac-mini ~ % diskutil apfs listsnapshots disk2s1

    Snapshot for disk2s1 (1 found)

    |

    +— E3D1AF2D-7182-3217-BC82-2874219DAB48

    Name: com.apple.os.update-52F3A2F592F324F6AC5DE35D538FA237771DB7715C76582E51C5C432D80587DD

    XID: 42

    Purgeable: No

    The short string next to the “+— ” is the snapshot UUID, and the longer string below it is the name. You can use either, but the UUID is easier.

    You can also view the snapshot name/UUID for the source in Disk Utility from the menu bar by selecting View->Show APFS Snapshots.

    Note, you must have an actual macOS volume selected in the sidebar in Disk Utility for this menu item to be enabled. Selecting the physical device or the Container won’t work.

    Use Disk Utility to view sealed snapshot names and UUIDs in macOS.
    Viewing snapshot UUID and name in Disk Utility.

    Start the cloning operation

    The command for starting the ASR cloning process is easy, but the entire command line is quite complex.

    The main command is:

    asr restore

    There are several options and parameters that go along with it. The three most important possible options are:

    1. — source

    2. — target

    3. — erase

    You can also use the --file option to target a file as the destination. There are other options for skipping verification and warnings and controlling output.

    There’s also a cool server option to multicast a clone over a network, but it requires the --erase flag. ASR can also read multicast .dmg files over a network by using the asr:// protocol. But in general, asr:// isn’t used much.

    For a complete list of options and usage, in Terminal type:

    man asr and press Return on your keyboard. There’s also an online version at ss64.com.

    The man page has sections that discuss restoring from filesystems, snapshots, and volumes. To exit the man system in Terminal, type Control-Z or q on your keyboard.

    You can get verbose output while cloning with the --verbose and --debug flags.

    An example of the simplest clone command line might look like this:

    sudo asr restore --source /Volumes/source --target /Volumes/dest

    To do the same as above but also erase and destroy all data (including volumes) on the destination when cloning, also add the --erase flag at the end of the command line before starting.

    The --erase flag destroys all existing data on the target, so use it carefully. It’s easy to wipe out several volumes at once inadvertently if you’re not careful.

    To include the above snapshot if you’re running in Recovery Mode, also add the --toSnapshot flag followed by a space, then the snapshot name or UUID you obtained above. This will make the destination clone look and behave exactly like your source volume.

    In most cases, if you target a container and omit the --erase flag – and if your source is a single volume, the volume will be added to the container and the other volumes will be left alone.

    But again, use caution and always back up all your volumes and data first, just in case something goes wrong.

    When running in Recovery Mode, you can usually omit the sudo at the start of the command because you entered an admin password when Recovery Mode started.

    When ASR starts, it will prompt to ask if you’re sure unless you used the --noprompt flag above. Press y in response and press Return.

    ASR will run several steps to execute the clone, and if everything worked, at the end you’ll see the message “Restore completed successfully.”. If a clone fails, you’ll need to open Disk Utility and look for a volume with “ASR” in its name and then Erase it from the toolbar.

    Again, proceed with caution. Don’t accidentally erase the wrong volume.

    Make the clone bootable

    When a clone operation succeeds, the destination still isn’t bootable. You’ll need to do a few additional steps to make it so.

    After ASR runs, the destination volumes all have the same names as the originals (or one volume if you didn’t clone a Container). You’ll need to rename these volumes with unique names so they don’t conflict with the originals.

    If more than one volume with an identical name is mounted on the Finder’s Desktop, macOS will change one of the volumes’ names silently but only in the background. The “real” name the filesystem sees for each volume will be different than the duplicate(s)’ names shown in the Finder, which can be confusing.

    I’s best to make sure all volumes have unique names.

    You can rename unlocked volume names in the Finder by clicking on their names and typing new ones. Alternately, you can rename them in Disk Utility by selecting them in the sidebar, then Control-clicking each one and selecting Rename from the popup menu.

    At any rate, it’s best to restart your Mac after renaming volumes to make sure the system picks up all the new names and discards any ones it may have created in the background.

    Note that this renaming also has to be done for the destination’s Data volume. For example:

    1. Macintosh HD

    2. Macintosh HD – Data

    might become:

    1. NewExternal HD

    2. NewExternal HD – Data

    Do not rename the special volumes on the clone named:

    1. Preboot

    2. Recovery

    3. VM

    4. Update

    If you do, the clone may not boot.

    If you’re still in Recovery Mode, you’ll need to restart back into your normal installation of macOS to complete the next steps.

    Once you’re back in macOS, open System Settings, go to General->Startup Disk and set your clone as the boot volume. This causes macOS to bless the volume for booting by setting some special flags on it.

    You can now restart into the cloned volume by clicking the Restart button.

    If you see the message “This volume does not have any authorized users for this computer”, click Authorize Users and follow the instructions. You may need to enter an admin password several times.

    You may also want to run First Aid in Disk Utility on the clone or its Container first before rebooting, just to make sure everything is ok on the destination.

    If, for any reason after restarting, you can’t boot from the clone and can’t get back to your original Startup Disk, you can select which volume to start from by resetting your Mac and then holding down a key:

    1. Power button (Apple Silicon)

    2. Option key (Intel Macs)

    This preempts the boot process and displays a screen that gives you the option to select which volume to boot from.

    Now you know how to make clones of your Startup Disk in various ways. Be careful when making clones since it’s very easy to destroy data.

    Apple Software Restore isn’t intended for mass deployment of macOS to multiple machines. It is possible to do so, but it’s not a good idea.

    Instead, you should use Apple’s MDM technology to deploy to multiple devices at once. See the macOS Deployment Guide for more info.

    ASR can be dangerous if not used carefully. For this reason, you should only use it when you’re sure you have enough time to do a restore without rushing.

    One single mistake can wipe out multiple drives at once and destroy all the data on them in an instant.

    It might also be a good idea to set up a test Mac with some extra drives on it and practice before using ASR in a real-world environment. You can use inexpensive USB thumb drives as test drives, although they will be a bit slower.

    Also see Apple’s technote (102655) How to reinstall macOS.


  • The 47 best movies in April 2025

    The 47 best movies in April 2025


    If you’re looking for the best movies on Netflix to stream right now, you’ve come to the right place. There are several thousand new titles on Netflix every single year, which can make deciding what to watch on any given night quite a challenge.

    We are here to help with a massive list of all the best movies on Netflix. We will continue to update this post throughout the year as new movies start streaming on Netflix. We’ll also take movies off of the list as Netflix removes them.

    One of Them Days (2025)

    • Director: Lawrence Lamont
    • Cast: Keke Palmer, SZA, Vanessa Bell Calloway
    • Running time: 1h 37m
    • Rating: R

    “Scrambling to repay their stolen rent money, best friends Dreux and Alyssa embark on a frantic race across LA to find enough cash to avoid eviction.”

    Heat (1995)

    • Director: Michael Mann
    • Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
    • Running time: 2h 50m
    • Rating: R

    “A heist gone wrong leads to a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between a criminal mastermind and the hard-boiled detective obsessed with catching him.”

    The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

    • Director: Derek Cianfrance
    • Cast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes
    • Running time: 2h 20m
    • Rating: R

    “A violent confrontation between a motorcycle-riding bank robber and a rookie cop spirals into a tense generational feud.”

    Revelations (2025)

    • Director: Yeon Sang-ho
    • Cast: Ryu Jun-yeol, Shin Hyun-been, Shin Min-jae
    • Running time: 2h 2m
    • Rating: R

    “A pastor who believes in divine revelation and a detective haunted by visions pursue a missing person case — exposing their own demons in the process.”

    Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

    • Director: Hal Needham
    • Cast: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason
    • Running time: 1h 36m
    • Rating: PG

    “A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.”

    Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025)

    • Director: Christian Gudegast
    • Cast: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad
    • Running time: 2h 10m
    • Rating: R

    “Rogue detective Nick O’Brien returns to hunt down a world-class thief, as the infamous Panther mafia plans its most ambitious diamond heist yet.”

    Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)

    • Director: Ridley Scott
    • Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
    • Running time: 1h 57m
    • Rating: R

    “In this restored cut of the sci-fi classic, ex-police officer Rick Deckard returns to the force to hunt down a group of rogue androids in dystopian LA.”

    Sicario (2015)

    • Director: Denis Villeneuve
    • Cast: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin
    • Running time: 2h 1m
    • Rating: R

    “An FBI agent takes part in an undercover operation targeting a Mexican drug lord, but her ethics are challenged when the sting crosses the line.”

    Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

    • Director: Jeff Fowler
    • Cast: James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey
    • Running time: 2h 5m
    • Rating: PG

    “Eager to be a hero, Sonic teams up with new friend Tails to stop Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles the Echidna from getting hold of an all-powerful emerald.”

    Parasite (2019)

    • Director: Bong Joon-ho
    • Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
    • Running time: 2h 12m
    • Rating: R

    “One by one, the crafty members of a destitute family insinuate themselves into the household staff of a wealthy couple living in oblivious privilege.”

    Saturday Night (2024)

    • Director: Jason Reitman
    • Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith
    • Running time: 1h 49m
    • Rating: R

    “In 1975, a young producer races to prove his prowess as his chaotic cast of comedians prepares for their first-ever broadcast — live from New York.”

    The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

    • Director: Tom Gormican
    • Cast: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish
    • Running time: 1h 47m
    • Rating: PG

    “After agreeing to attend a wealthy superfan’s birthday party, a struggling movie star finds himself embroiled in an international kidnapping plot.”

    Hereditary (2018)

    • Director: Ari Aster
    • Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro
    • Running time: 2h 7m
    • Rating: R

    “After the death of her mother, artist Annie and her family uncover their terrifying legacy and grapple with malevolent forces beyond their control.”

    Lion (2016)

    • Director: Garth Davis
    • Cast: Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham
    • Running time: 1h 58m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “Years after being separated from his mom and adopted by an Australian couple, an Indian man returns to his hometown determined to find his birth family.”

    Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

    • Directors: Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham
    • Cast: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel
    • Running time: 1h 22m
    • Rating: PG

    “Top dog Gromit springs into action to save his master when Wallace’s high-tech invention goes rogue and he’s framed for a series of suspicious crimes.”

    Apollo 13 (1995)

    • Director: Ron Howard
    • Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton
    • Running time: 2h 19m
    • Rating: PG

    “Technical troubles scuttle the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew in this chronicle of a true story.”

    Carry-On (2024)

    Taron Egerton in Carry-On on Netflix
    Taron Edgerton as TSA agent Ethan Kopek in “Carry-On.” Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
    • Cast: Taron Egerton, Sofia Carson, Jason Bateman
    • Running time: 1h 59m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “An airport security officer races to outsmart a mysterious traveler forcing him to let a dangerous item slip onto a Christmas Eve flight.”

    Maria (2024)

    Maria on Netflix
    Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in “Maria.” Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Pablo Larraín
    • Cast: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher
    • Running time: 2h 3m
    • Rating: R

    “Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie stars as legendary opera singer Maria Callas in director Pablo Larraín’s reimagining of the diva’s final days.”

    The Piano Lesson (2024)

    Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker Charles in The Piano Lesson.
    Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker Charles in The Piano Lesson. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Malcolm Washington
    • Cast: John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler
    • Running time: 2h 7m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “A brewing battle over the fate of an heirloom piano threatens to tear a family apart in this drama based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.”

    Hot Frosty (2024)

    Lacey Chabert as Kathy Barrett in Hot Frosty.
    Lacey Chabert as Kathy Barrett in Hot Frosty. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Jerry Ciccoritti
    • Cast: Lacey Chabert, Dustin Milligan, Craig Robinson
    • Running time: 1h 32m
    • Rating: PG

    “When a young widow’s magic scarf brings a dashing snowman to life, can he help her rediscover romance, laughter and holiday cheer before he melts away?”

    Emilia Pérez (2024)

    Emilia Pérez on Netflix
    Selena Gomez as Jessi in Emilia Pérez. Image source: Shanna Besson/PAGE 114 – WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS – PATHÉ FILMS – FRANCE 2 CINÉMA
    • Director: Jacques Audiard
    • Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez
    • Running time: 2h 12m
    • Rating: R

    “Four remarkable women pursue happiness in Jacques Audiard’s audacious, genre-defying film that unfolds through a fever dream of original songs and dance.”

    The Lost City (2022)

    Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, and Channing Tatum in The Lost City.
    Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, and Channing Tatum in The Lost City. Image source: Paramount Pictures
    • Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee
    • Cast: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe
    • Running time: 1h 52m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “A romance novelist lands on a jungle adventure with her cover model after she’s abducted by an eccentric billionaire in search of a lost treasure.”

    Woman of the Hour (2024)

    Tony Hale as Ed and Anna Kendrick as Sheryl in Woman of the Hour.
    Tony Hale as Ed and Anna Kendrick as Sheryl in Woman of the Hour. Image source: Leah Gallo/Netflix
    • Director: Anna Kendrick
    • Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale
    • Running time: 1h 35m
    • Rating: R

    “An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in ’70s LA when they’re cast on an episode of “The Dating Game.” Based on a true story.”

    A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

    Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place Part II.
    Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place Part II. Image source: Paramount Pictures
    • Director: John Krasinski
    • Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millie Simmonds
    • Running time: 1h 38m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “Forced to leave their home, the Abbotts must venture out into a world of deadly creatures drawn to sound — and other threats they never expected.”

    Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

    Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
    Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Bad Boys: Ride or Die. Image source: Sony Pictures Releasing
    • Directors: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
    • Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens
    • Running time: 1h 56m
    • Rating: R

    “When a mysterious enemy frames their late captain for corruption, Miami cops Mike and Marcus go rogue to expose a conspiracy — and clear their own names.”

    Will & Harper (2024)

    Will Ferrell and Harper Steele in Will & Harper.
    Will Ferrell and Harper Steele in Will & Harper. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Josh Greenbaum
    • Cast: Will Ferrell, Harper Steele
    • Running time: 1h 54m
    • Rating: R

    “When Will Ferrell’s good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.”

    Rez Ball (2024)

    Kauchani Bratt as Jimmy in Rez Ball.
    Kauchani Bratt as Jimmy in Rez Ball. Image source: Lewis Jacobs/Netflix
    • Director: Sydney Freeland
    • Cast: Jessica Matten, Kauchani Bratt, Kusem Goodwind
    • Running time: 1h 53m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “After losing their star player, a high school basketball team rooted in Native American culture must unite to keep their state championship dreams alive.”

    His Three Daughters (2024)

    Elizabeth Olsen as Christina, Carrie Coon as Katie and Natasha Lyonne as Rachel in His Three Daughters.
    Elizabeth Olsen as Christina, Carrie Coon as Katie and Natasha Lyonne as Rachel in His Three Daughters. Image source: Sam Levy/Netflix
    • Director: Azazel Jacobs
    • Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon
    • Running time: 1h 44m
    • Rating: R

    “Emotions run high when three estranged sisters reunite in a cramped New York City apartment to watch over their ailing father during his final days.”

    Rebel Ridge (2024)

    Rebel Ridge on Netflix
    Aaron Pierre as Terry Richmond in Rebel Ridge. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Jeremy Saulnier
    • Cast: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
    • Running time: 2h 11m
    • Rating: TV-MA

    “A former Marine confronts corruption in a small town when local law enforcement unjustly seizes the bag of cash he needs to post his cousin’s bail.”

    Godzilla Minus One (2023)

    Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix.
    Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix. Image source: Toho
    • Director: Takashi Yamazaki
    • Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
    • Running time: 2h 5m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “In postwar Japan, a traumatized former fighter pilot joins the civilian effort to fight off a massive nuclear-enhanced monster attacking their shores.”

    Hit Man (2024)

    Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man.
    Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man. Image source: Brian Roedel/Netflix
    • Director: Richard Linklater
    • Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio
    • Running time: 1h 55m
    • Rating: R

    “A mild-mannered professor moonlighting as a fake hit man in police stings ignites a chain reaction of trouble when he falls for a potential client.”

    Suzume (2022)

    Suzume is streaming on Netflix.
    Suzume is streaming on Netflix. Image source: Toho
    • Director: Makoto Shinkai
    • Cast: Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu
    • Running time: 2h 2m
    • Rating: PG

    “After she unknowingly opens a door of chaos, 17-year-old Suzume joins forces with a young man to help prevent more calamity from befalling Japan.”

    One Piece Film: Red (2022)

    The cast of One Piece Film: Red.
    The cast of One Piece Film: Red. Image source: Toei Animation
    • Director: Gorō Taniguchi
    • Cast: Mayumi Tanaka, Kazuya Nakai, Akemi Okamura
    • Running time: 1h 55m
    • Rating: PG-13

    “A new adventure begins for Luffy and his crew when mysterious pop superstar Uta unveils her identity — and launches a misguided plan for world peace.”

    Society of the Snow (2024)

    Agustin Della Corte as Tintin in Society of the Snow.
    Agustin Della Corte as Tintin in Society of the Snow. Image source: Quim Vives/Netflix
    • Director: J. A. Bayona
    • Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Matías Recalt
    • Running time: 2h 25m
    • Rating: R

    “Following a plane crash in the remote heart of the Andes, survivors join forces and become each other’s best hope as they navigate their way back home.”

    May December (2023)

    Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry and Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo in May December.
    Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry and Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo in May December. Image source: Francois Duhamel/Netflix
    • Director: Todd Haynes
    • Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton
    • Running time: 1h 57m
    • Rating: R

    “Decades after their scandalous relationship made headlines, a couple starts to unravel when a famous actor arrives to research them for her new film.”

    The Killer (2023)

    Michael Fassbender in The Killer.
    Michael Fassbender in The Killer. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: David Fincher
    • Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard
    • Running time: 1h 59m
    • Rating: R

    “After a fateful near miss, an assassin battles his employers — and himself — on an international hunt for retribution he insists isn’t personal.”

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

    Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
    Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Image source: Sony Pictures
    • Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
    • Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry
    • Running time: 2h 20m
    • Rating: PG

    “Teen Miles Morales teams up with Gwen Stacy on a new adventure, facing sinister foe The Spot and a vast legion of parallel heroes in the Multiverse.”

    Nimona (2023)

    Chloë Grace Moretz as Nimona.
    Chloë Grace Moretz as Nimona. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Nick Bruno & Troy Quane
    • Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang
    • Running time: 1h 42m
    • Rating: PG

    “A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence. But what if she’s the monster he’s sworn to destroy?”

    All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

    All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix
    Felix Kammerer, center, in Netflix’s WWI movie “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Image source: Reiner Bajo/Netflix
    • Director: Edward Berger
    • Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer
    • Running time: 2h 28m
    • Rating: R

    “When 17-year-old Paul joins the Western Front in World War I, his initial excitement is soon shattered by the grim reality of life in the trenches.”

    Klaus (2019)

    Klaus on Netflix.
    Klaus on Netflix. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Sergio Pablos
    • Cast: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones
    • Running time: 1h 37m
    • Rating: PG

    “After proving himself to be the worst student at the academy, a postman is sent to a frozen town in the North where he discovers a reclusive toymaker named Klaus.”

    Hustle (2022)

    hustle movie netflix
    (L-R) Tobias Harris as himself and Juancho Hernangomez as Bo Cruz in the Netflix movie “Hustle.” Image source: Scott Yamano/Netflix
    • Director: Jeremiah Zagar
    • Cast: Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster
    • Running time: 1h 58m
    • Rating: R

    “After a down-on-his-luck basketball scout discovers an extraordinary player abroad, he brings the phenom back without his team’s approval.”

    The End of Evangelion (1997)

    The End of Evangelion is streaming on Netflix.
    The End of Evangelion is streaming on Netflix. Image source: Toei Company
    • Director: Kazuya Tsurumaki & Hideaki Anno
    • Cast: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yūko Miyamura
    • Running time: 87 minutes
    • Rating: TV-MA

    “NERV face off against the Eighteenth Angel, humanity itself, but in the end the fate of the world depends upon Shinji’s choices.”

    Marriage Story (2019)

    Marriage Story is streaming on Netflix.
    Marriage Story is streaming on Netflix. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Noah Baumbach
    • Cast: Scarlett Johannson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern
    • Running time: 2h 17m
    • Rating: R

    “A stage director and his actor wife struggle through a gruelling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal and creative extremes.”

    The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

    THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
    The Mitchells vs. the Machines is streaming on Netflix. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Mike Rianda
    • Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
    • Running time: 1h 54m
    • Rating: PG

    “Young Katie Mitchell embarks on a road trip with her proud parents, younger brother and beloved dog to start her first year at film school. But their plans to bond as a family soon get interrupted when the world’s electronic devices come to life to stage an uprising. With help from two friendly robots, the Mitchells must now come together to save one another — and the planet — from the new technological revolution.”

    The Power of the Dog (2021)

    The Power of the Dog is coming to Netflix this week.
    BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as PHIL BURBANK in THE POWER OF THE DOG. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Jane Campion
    • Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons
    • Running time: 2h 6m
    • Rating: R

    “A domineering rancher responds with mocking cruelty when his brother brings home a new wife and her son, until the unexpected comes to pass.”

    RRR (2022)

    Ram Charan in RRR.
    Ram Charan in RRR. Image source: DVV Entertainment
    • Director: S. S. Rajamouli
    • Cast: N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn
    • Running time: 3h 2m
    • Rating: TV-MA

    “A tale of two legendary revolutionaries and their journey far away from home. After their journey they return home to start fighting back against British colonialists in the 1920s.”

    The Sea Beast (2022)

    THE SEA BEAST - (L-R) Zaris-Angel Hator as Maisie Brumble, Jared Harris as Captain Crow, Karl Urban as Jacob Holland and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Sarah Sharpe.
    Zaris-Angel Hator as Maisie Brumble, Jared Harris as Captain Crow, Karl Urban as Jacob Holland, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Sarah Sharpe in The Sea Beast. Image source: Netflix
    • Director: Chris Williams
    • Cast: Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris
    • Running time: 1h 59m
    • Rating: PG

    After spending the first two decades of his career at Disney working on the likes of Mulan, Bolt, Big Hero 6, and Moana, director Chris Williams charted a new course with Netflix. His first movie after leaving Disney was The Sea Beast, which is a thrilling animated adventure about the young orphan girl Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator), who joins the sea monster hunter Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) on his quest to slay the elusive Red Bluster for the King and Queen. Along the way, they learn that the legend of the monsters might not line up with reality.

    We’ll be back each month with updates to this list as movies join and leave the Netflix library. You can also check out all of the new releases on Netflix here.


  • The Best Action Games for 2025

    The Best Action Games for 2025


    The action genre is surprisingly tricky to define. Action games contain a lot of combat, but they aren’t quite fighting games or beat ‘em ups. An “action-adventure” game may have narrative, exploration, or puzzle-solving elements, but too many tips the title into the role-playing game or adventure game territories. The lines are blurry, and more than a little subjective. But PCMag has been reviewing games for more than 20 years, so we know a thrilling action game when we see one. Whether you’re looking to experience epic mythology, digital Lego adventures, or tomb raiding, these are the best action games you should play now.

    30XX recalls the classic robot-blasting action of Mega Man X, but it’s more than a mere clone. It flips the formula by adding multiple play modes, custom stage creation, and randomly generated weapon drops. If you’re hungry for 16-bit style Blue Bomber platforming, but can’t hold out for Capcom to make a new game, check out this fun-filled indie release.

    30XX Review

    Tic Toc Games’ Adventures of Pip is a side-scrolling, action-platforming game that has an interesting premise: evolving and devolving a pixel-based hero between his 1-bit and 16-bit forms to fight through level after level of goons and bosses. The unique premise, rich environments, and fun gameplay combine to form a title with a lot of heart and charm, despite the limited scope of its weapons and power-ups.

    Adventures of Pip (for PC) Review

    Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

    FromSoftware shifts gears from the Souls games to revitalize its long-standing mech-focused action franchise. Customize your mech to suit your playstyle, with tremendous RPG-like customization and loadouts. Dash, glide, and blast your way through five action-packed chapters and face down robotic sentries, mech-piloting mercenaries, and brutal bosses. Combat is an omnidirectional affair that incorporates aerial mobility into your core move set. It’s a great game if you love mech battles and don’t mind the occasionally frustrating difficulty spike.

    Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Review

    Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a smaller, tighter title than recent series entries, one that recalls its earlier, groundbreaking releases. You play as Basim, a young assassin who tries to overthrow an oppressive regimen in Ubisoft’s take on Baghdad. Mirage has fun returning features such as eavesdropping and pickpocketing that were sorely missing from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Origins, and Valhalla. Yes, the controls are a bit stiff, but Mirage is a compelling play.

    Assassin’s Creed Mirage Review

    Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

    The Assassin’s Creed series has taken us to numerous historical settings since its 2007 debut, including Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, and Revolutionary War-era America. The newest installment, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, details the Viking invasion of 9th Century England from the perspective of history’s most notorious raiders. Though Valhalla doesn’t introduce anything wholly new to the series, it’s an excellent PC game that follows in the footsteps of its equally exceptional predecessors, Origins and Odyssey.

    Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (for PC) Review

    Developer Tom Happ, who is known for his work on EA Sports’ Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NFL Street franchises, has gone indie and crafted a delightful tribute to the exploratory action (AKA Metroidvania) genre. This 2D platformer combines the best aspects of classic side-scrollers like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Metroid to deliver a refined experience for newcomers of the genre and seasoned vets alike. Axiom Verge is a fun, engaging title, but plodding story elements and seemingly pointless weapons mar the experience a bit.

    Axiom Verge (for PC) Review

    The middle chapter of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham trilogy does the best job balancing dense, thoughtful level design with an open-world Gotham City for the Caped Crusader to patrol. You’ll encounter recognizable villains, including Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, and the League of Shadows. The game’s still-revolutionary combat system makes it a joy tearing through mobs of generic goons and henchmen.

    Batman: Arkham City Review

    Hideki Kamiya basically invented the stylish, character-action game formula with the original Devil May Cry. Alongside the crew at PlatinumGames, the infamous Twitter troll took the genre to new heights with Bayonetta. You play as a sassy witch who sadistically slaughters angels with attacks conjured from her hair. Don’t let the ridiculous tone fool you. You must master the deep and varied combat system if you want to stand a chance (and look fabulous while doing it).

    Bayonetta (for PC) Review

    The Castlevania-inspired Blasphemous 2 doesn’t push the popular Metroidvania genre forward into new realms, but it delivers satisfying gothic action. The abstract religious imagery, snappy combat, precise platforming, and clever puzzles form a terrific title that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Even better, the haunting pixel art gives this sequel a unique vibe you don’t often find in the genre.

    Blasphemous 2 Review

    Simply put, the JoyMasher-developed Blazing Chrome is one of the best run-and-gun shooters ever made. In its Terminator-like world, one wrecked by a robot apocalypse, you control characters toting high-powered weaponry designed to obliterate legions of mechanical enemies. Across the games’ six stages you experience chunky explosions, wild multiplayer action, and hulking bosses. It doesn’t do much to push the genre forward with fresh gameplay features, but Blazing Chrome’s does nearly everything right.

    Blazing Chrome (for PC) Review

    Bomb Rush Cyberfunk caters to an audience that Sega abandoned more than two decades ago. An obvious spiritual successor to the beloved Jet Set Radio Series, this hip-hop-inspired skating game has the style, beats, and tagging energy last seen in 2002’s Jet Set Radio Future, but don’t mistake it for a mere clone. Bomb Rush Cyberpunk adds modern design sensibilities to the cult classic formula, making it a release that appeals to anyone who likes arcade-style action.

    Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Review

    Carrion is a Metroid-like, 2D platformer published by Devolver Digital in which you play as a gruesome, alien parasite. That statement contains all the information you need to understand exactly how the PC game plays. There’s the genre: Metroid-like 2D platformer. Then there’s the subject matter: playing as a gruesome, alien parasite. Finally, there’s the game’s scope and style: published by Devolver Digital. In other words, Carrion is a wonderfully stylized, indie platformer with plenty of bloody violence.

    Carrion (for PC) Review

    Cuphead is a charming run-and-gun/shoot-’em-up hybrid that channels Konami’s iconic Contra series, while also taking heavy inspiration from the rubber-hose animation style that was prominent during 1920s- and 1930s-era cartoons. If you’re familiar with the Contra series’ fast-paced gameplay, then Cuphead should be right up your alley. The titular protagonist and his brother Mugman must best a wide variety of perilous stages and bosses to complete their quest. Cuphead lacks the expansive level design featured in Contra and other genre classics, but the hardcore action game gives you a beefy list of complex and satisfying boss fights to overcome, in the style of Treasure’s beloved Alien Soldier.

    Cuphead (for PC) Review

    Giant robots make everything better, and that includes video games. Daemon Ex Machina is a modern take on classic, mech action. You fight mechanical foes on gorgeous, stylized battlefields with guns, missiles, and the occasional laser sword. Once one battle ends, collect new gear from downed opponents and customize your mech for the next mission.

    Daemon X Machina (for PC) Review

    The original Darksiders was an excellent mashup of Zelda-style adventures, God of War-like combat, and enough lore to put Doom to shame. The hellish legacy continues with Darksiders III, a game that sees you play as Fury, the Horsewoman of the Apocalypse. Taking inspiration from recent Souls games, Darksiders III focuses on brutal battles with small enemy groups, rather than mindlessly murdering huge hordes.

    Darksiders III (for PC) Review

    Death Stranding baffled PlayStation 4 owners who weren’t quite prepared for a plot involving extinction, isolation, mortality, and humanity’s remnants trying to piece together a broken world. The controversial console game is now a PC game that sports enhanced graphics, platform-specific Half-Life themed missions, and a photo mode. Taking gameplay cues from the action, stealth, and survival genres, Death Stranding is a more daring affair than the typical mainstream video game title. After all, not many games feature a delivery person who fights flying whales one minute, and then discusses the afterlife with Guillermo del Toro the next. It’s an odd, slow burn.

    Death Stranding (for PC) Review

    Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition

    Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition takes everything that made Capcom’s original 2008 release an impressive action game and expands on it. The game includes the Legendary Dark Knight enemy horde mode that was added to the original PC port, as well as three new playable characters, improved visuals, and subtle gameplay tweaks. Some of the weaker aspects of the original release, such as the repetitive story campaign, remain and slightly tarnish an otherwise brilliantly polished title. Overall, Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition is a rock-solid action game that is well worth picking up for fans of the series and action buffs alike.

    Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (for PC) Review

    Devil May Cry 5 returns the series to its roots after Ninja Theory’s polarizing series reboot. Three heroes—Dante, Nero, and newcomer V—offer vastly different combat styles to master as you destroy demons. Powered by Capcom’s excellent RE Engine, the infernal mayhem has never looked better. If you’re a longtime franchise fan, you’ll appreciate the steep challenges.

    Devil May Cry 5 (for PC) Review

    The Disney Afternoon Collection

    Disney Afternoon, the mega-popular 1990s animation block, spawned some of the best platformers on the Nintendo Entertainment System, thanks to developer Capcom. And, 20 years later, those games are back in the excellent Disney Afternoon Collection. The six games—Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers 2, Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, DuckTales 2, and TaleSpin—feature a crisp 1080p resolution, the ability to save your progress at any time, and a useful rewind feature that helps combat the infamous difficulties associated with old school Nintendo games.

    The Disney Afternoon Collection (for PC) Review

    Few weapons inspire as much awe as the sword, especially in the video game world. Indie title En Garde turns swordplay’s purity into an action-packed, Spanish-themed beat ‘em up. Although it has a brief runtime, it delights with fast-paced blade battles and clever environmental attacks.

    En Garde Review

    Fall Guys: Ultimate Knock Out

    Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, 2020’s biggest surprise hit, is loads of chaotic, obstacle-course-navigating fun. The bright, cheery, game show-inspired title sees you bounce through candy-colored obstacle courses and take on other challenges, while competing against 59 online contestants. Beware the Big Yeetus!

    Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (for PC) Review

    With Far Cry Primal, developer Ubisoft abandons all political pretenses and focuses on what made Far Cry stand out from its peers when the series debuted: the open-world sandbox. You play as a Stone Age hunter named Takkar, and your goal is to secure a safe haven for your people, the wandering Wenja tribe, in the prehistoric realm of Oros. Melee combat and beast companions set Primal apart from past Far Cry games and make exploration feel much more personal and engaging. Primal’s story is simpler and more straightforward, so if you were hoping for eccentric villains and outlandish melodrama, you may be left a tad disappointed.

    Far Cry Primal (for PC) Review

    Underneath For Honor’s grim tone beats the heart of an excited child. This combat game is all about making knights, vikings, and samurai fight each other, like smashing your favorite historical action figures together. However, For Honor is far from brainless. Wielding these weighty melee weapons takes patience and strategy, as one wrong move spells your doom. Test your mettle in the solo campaign or in online multiplayer skirmishes.

    For Honor (for PC) Review

    GalaxyTrail’s Freedom Planet is a retro-platformer that looks and feels like a long-lost 16-bit mascot game. Freedom Planet’s 14 levels are large, colorful, and varied. Almost all have Sonic the Hedgehog-style loops, ramps, and corkscrews. Each level also introduces its own unique elements, such as disappearing blocks, colored switches, and keys. These elements sound like basic platforming obstacles, but they’re so well-crafted and diverse that they always feel fresh and don’t overstay their welcome. The downside? Some cringe-worthy voice acting.

    Freedom Planet (for PC) Review

    In this first-person, cyberpunk, action game, you’ll leap around arenas as you cut down enemies with your katana. If you take one hit, however, you’re back to square one. The unforgiving punishment doesn’t always pair well with the inherently disorienting first-person platforming and combat controls, but when everything clicks there are few games more satisfying.

    Ghostrunner (for PC) Review

    The new God of War brings many changes to Sony’s iconic action series. Kratos is older, wiser, and more mature. The game trades the Greek gods for a gloomy take on Norse mythology. Instead of fighting to avenge his dead daughter, Kratos guides his very much alive son. The action is more measured and methodical than in previous GoW games, even if you can still pull off some nifty moves with your magic axe. All these changes reinvigorated the franchise for a new generation.

    God of War (for PC) Review

    There are many Metroidvania games in the indie game scene, but Gunbrella’s compelling revenge tale, challenging platforming, and genre twists make it an entertaining title that stands out from the pack. In it, you control a man toting a gunbrella, a gun-umbrella hybrid weapon that lets you mow down foes or gracefully float your way through stages.

    Gunbrella Review

    Hi-Fi Rush was a surprise drop by Bethesda during the Xbox & Bethesda Developer Direct Showcase that delivers awesome comic book visuals, rhythm-based action, and campy humor. The protagonist, Chai, is a wannabe rock star with a music player accidentally grafted into his chest, and he powers up whenever he fights to the beat of the music. Wreak havoc across Vandelay Campus, smash robotic sentries and outrageous bosses, and unravel the mystery behind the company’s mind-controlling robotic prosthetics. It’s fun, it’s dumb, and it’s full of heart.

    Hi-Fi Rush Review

    Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition

    Horizon Zero Dawn stood as one of the PlayStation 4’s premier exclusives, alongside Bloodborne, God of War, and Marvel’s Spider-Man. You can now enjoy the open-world, robot-slaying action on PC thanks to the Complete Edition. This version comes with the expansive base game, as well as The Frozen Wilds DLC that includes a new area, more story content, and additional collectibles. The performance has been much improved since its initial PC launch, delivering a dense and impressive post-apocalyptic adventure.

    Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition (for PC) Review

    Immortals Fenyx Rising is the best game that publisher Ubisoft released in 2020, despite being shoved into the holiday season behind its bigger siblings, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion. Developer Ubisoft Quebec pivoted from Assassin’s Creed’s massive quest to a shorter action-adventure game, a move that helps this story of Greek gods and monsters shine brighter. Immortals Fenyx Rising is a PC game forged from the pieces of other titles, notably Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it excellently establishes its own identity.

    Immortals Fenyx Rising (for PC) Review

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a thinking gamer’s action game. You play as a professor, after all. By focusing more on puzzles and stealth than straightforward fighting, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle delivers a first-person Indy fantasy heavier on adventure rather than mindless violence. Of course, you’ll still get to swing that whip. The gorgeous presentation does justice to a cinematic storyline that’s better than some recent Indy films.

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review

    In 2000, Sega gave us a look into the future of funk with Jet Set Radio, a cel-shaded action game that starred a cute band of rollerblading miscreants who tagged walls, battled rival delinquents, and avoided out-of-control cops. This updated PC version flexes high-definition graphics, developer interviews, and all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a Steam game. Dripping in manga-influenced hip-hop flavor and boasting one of the greatest soundtracks ever crafted for a video game, the grind-happy Jet Set Radio is a title that belongs in the library of anyone who digs fast-paced action games, incredibly catchy tunes, and street culture.

    Jet Set Radio (for PC) Review

    PlayStation 2 gamers likely remember how difficult it was to avoid the hype surrounding Katamari Damacy. Publisher Namco Bandai’s action-puzzle game tasked you with rebuilding a destroyed cosmos, and went on to become a sequel-spawning hit, thanks to its addictive gameplay, charming graphics, and amazing score. The delightful original game has now been given the remaster treatment with Katamari Damacy Reroll, a game featuring updated graphics and keyboard support. Katamari Damacy Reroll delivers the same whimsical enjoyment as the original did in 2004, but with the addition of a new coat of paint that makes this PC game one you should not miss.

    Katamari Damacy Reroll (for PC) Review

    Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition

    Goichi Suda (aka Suda51) is the Robert Rodriguez of the video game industry. The Japanese developer crafts projects noted for their style, edginess, and violence, but once you peep beneath the cool veneer, the work is exposed as a somewhat empty, if fun, experience. Such is Suda51’s Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition, a Steam game that stars a cybernetically enhanced assassin named Mondo Zappa who slays vampires, mystics, and other monstrosities for a government agency. Killer Is Dead is dripping with Suda51’s trademark humor, character swag, and fast-paced action, but it lacks the killer level design and supporting elements that would elevate the game to the top of its genre.

    Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition (for PC) Review

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    Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

    Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered lets a new generation enjoy these underappreciated, narrative-rich action-adventure vampire games. You must get used to some old-fashioned quirks regarding combat and puzzles, but the games remain engrossing experiences.

    Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Review

    Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

    TT Games’s Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham squeezes in a lot of DC Comics fan service and silliness, while maintaining a whimsical and simplistic approach to its action and story. Whether it’s the subtle 1978 Superman theme that plays when the caped do-gooder is flying, or Nightwing reminiscing about his sidekick days while compulsively spewing “holy” exclamations, Lego Batman 3 is so filled with Easter eggs that it feels like a love letter to all of DC Comics. The gameplay doesn’t deviate much from the familiar Lego formula, but the experience is solid, nonetheless.

    Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (for PC) Review

    Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a near-perfect blend of three wonderful childhood staples: comic books, video games, and, well, Lego. Steeped in Marvel Comics goodness, Lego Marvel Super Heroes puts players in the role of superheroes—including the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man—who are tasked with recovering all-powerful Cosmic Bricks before top-tier baddies such as Loki, Dr. Doom, and Magneto get their hands on them. The open-world game features fun brick-bashing action and light puzzle challenges.

    LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PC) Review

    Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered

    If you want a video game to make you truly feel like the wall-crawler, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is it. Web-swinging across the open-world Manhattan feels pitch perfect. Combat turns you into a chatty, acrobatic trickster as you trip up goons with web blasts, gadgets, and good old-fashioned punches. Epic set pieces let you pull off superheroic feats with ease.

    Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (for PC) Review

    Mega Man 11 is a continuation of Capcom’s iconic side-scrolling platformer franchise, and it retains many of the series’ classic elements. In terms of gameplay, Mega Man 11 introduces the impressive speed- and power-boosting Double Gear system, which offers new ways to avoid obstacles and dispatch enemies. There are a handful of hazards strewn throughout this action game that feel a touch unfair, and some stages drag on much too long. Still, Mega Man 11 delivers a wonderfully fun challenge that’s splashed with a fresh coat of paint.

    Mega Man 11 (for PC) Review

    Mega Man Legacy Collection

    Capcom, in collaboration with Digital Eclipse, revisits Mega Man’s past with a package that does the original six NES Mega Man games justice. Besides featuring high-definition versions of the classic 8-bit games, the collection contains new trial challenges, leaderboards, video replays, and developer art. It’s one of the best retro compilations around. Besides the recent Rare Replay, Mega Man Legacy Collection is the closest to a video game equivalent of the Criterion Collection the medium has seen. If you’re a Mega Man fan, consider this a must-have collection.

    Mega Man Legacy Collection (for PC) Review

    Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

    Forget the sneaky stealth elements that have defined the Metal Gear games. In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, you’ll cut and tear through foes with your sword and cyborg powers. This time, no one will complain that you play as Raiden instead of Snake. Even without creator Hideo Kojima at the helm, the plot includes plenty of bonkers conspiracy theories. The wilder, funnier tone fits perfectly with the fast-paced action.

    Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (for PC) Review

    Run-and-gun video games have a long history of thrilling fans with high-octane, shoot-everything-that-moves action, but few do it better than SNK’s Metal Slug 3. Originally released to the Neo Geo platform in 2000, the acclaimed Metal Slug 3 has appeared on nearly every console and handheld since then—and now it’s available for PCs. In this title, you control adorable, armed-to-the teeth soldiers who defend Earth from an alien invasion using guns, rocket launchers, and the eponymous Metal Slug tanks. Metal Slug 3 is a genre masterpiece due to its charming (and hyper-violent) cartoony graphics, tough-as-nails challenges, creative weapons, and varied level design.

    Metal Slug 3 (for PC) Review

    Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection

    Ninja Gaiden was a trendsetting action game when it was rebooted for the original Xbox, and the Master Collection (which includes Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge) marks the series’ first official release on PC.

    The Ninja Gaiden games feature a unique combat system that incorporates branching combos, fighting game-like stun states, and tight controls, creating challenging titles that are genuinely unique compared to its contemporaries. If you like your action rich and demanding, the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is what you need, despite its flaws.

    Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection (for PC) Review

    Okami HD is a gorgeous, high-definition port of the beloved PS3 action-adventure game. In it, you play as the goddess Amaterasu, reborn as a white wolf, in this utterly charming quest across fantasy Japan.

    Okami is structurally similar to The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, with expansive zones to explore, new powers to unlock, and clues to uncover to move to the next area. The combat is surprisingly rich, letting you swap between two weapons, and utilize powerful brush techniques to expose enemy weaknesses. The visuals are unashamedly Japanese, using a watercolor-like graphical style to depict a world quite unlike any other in the genre.

    Okami HD (for PC) Review

    Ori and the Will of the Wisps

    Xbox Game Studios is mostly known for realistic games starring space soldiers and fancy cars, but every so often the company rolls the dice on a family friendly platformer. 2015’s Ori and the Blind Forest was the publisher’s most successful attempt in years, and now its sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, is even better. Featuring pinpoint platforming controls, lush visuals, and clever level designs, Ori and the Wills of the Wisps is a magical, instant classic that will be played for years to come.

    Ori and the Will of the Wisps (for PC) Review

    Red Dead Redemption 2 is a violent story about the death of the Old West. You take control of Arthur Morgan, a man who belongs to an outlaw group and is disillusioned by the criminal lifestyle. Still, Arthur can’t see himself doing anything other than stealing and killing. This results in you undertaking many daring missions. Though not without some performance issues, Red Dead Redemption 2 amazes on PC. Its incredible story, beautiful graphics, multitude of optional quests, and ever-updated online mode may keep you hooked for years.

    Red Dead Redemption 2 (for PC) Review

    Fresh and wide-eyed from her exploits in Japan, the young and ambitious explorer Lara Croft is pitted against a cult of fanatical zealots in pursuit of immortality. Rise of the Tomb Raider features more of the spectacular set pieces, powerful combat, and tricky puzzles that made the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot so well received by critics and fans alike. Series fans may get a distinct feeling of déjà vu when running through the similarly styled gameplay scenarios and platforming sections, but Rise of the Tomb Raider is a solid action-adventure title.

    Rise of the Tomb Raider Review

    Sony is so much more than a sad-dad factory. If you’re looking for a Sony action game that doesn’t feature God of War or The Last of Us Part I’s weighty narratives, download Sackboy: A Big Adventure. This excellent, 3D platformer is plump with just about everything you want from a hop-and-bop title: Simple controls, fun multiplayer, cool level design, beautiful graphics, and a catchy soundtrack. If you’re hungry for a fresh platformer, check out this must-play PC game.

    Sackboy: A Big Adventure (for PC) Review

    Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

    Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice proves that FromSoftware’s beloved brand of brutally difficult action isn’t going anywhere. In some ways, Sekiro is somehow even tougher than Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and BloodBorne. At least those games are RPGs that occasionally let you grind your way through a fight. Sekiro, on the other hand, is a pure action game. To move forward, you must submit yourself to the intricate sword-fighting system. You can revive yourself after death, so get ready to die a lot more than twice.

    Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (for PC) Review

    Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

    Building off its experimental predecessor, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is an interactive arthouse action game, where grappling with mental illness is just as harrowing as slaying monsters. As Senua, you trek across ancient Iceland meeting allies, solving puzzles, and surviving simple but intense sword battles. Streamlined gameplay lets Senua’s Saga focus on delivering a powerful narrative with gorgeous photorealistic visuals.

    Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Review

    Shadow Complex Remastered

    The original Shadow Complex is a 2.5D platform-adventure game that became an Xbox 360 cult classic thanks to its fast-paced, exploration-heavy gameplay. The title has since received the remaster treatment, which gives the beloved game updated graphics, hard-hitting new contextual melee attacks, and Master Challenges. The run-and-gun game’s plot and voice acting don’t quite match the rest of the stellar package, but if you can overlook those ills, you’ll find an excellent title that’s well worth the $14.99 price.

    Shadow Complex Remastered (for PC) Review

    Shadow of the Tomb Raider

    Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a haunting, cinematic look at Lara Croft as she transverses the steppes and underworlds of the modern home of ancient Mesoamerican culture. Developers Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics redefine Croft in the final installment of her origin series by tossing away her iconic dual-pistols, and transforming her from a hapless orphan into a hardened tomb-dwelling adventuress that who must stop the coming Mayan Apocalypse. Shadow of the Tomb Raider wraps up Lara’s early days in satisfying fashion, but narrative and performance issues prevent the action-adventure game from reaching the same heights as the previous installments in the series.

    Shadow of the Tomb Raider (for PC) Review

    Sega’s Shenmue I and Shenmue II remasters are odd games, just like the original Dreamcast and Xbox releases. They’re loaded with a head-scratching amount of underutilized content, hilariously awkward writing, and some horrific pacing issues. But at the same time, they pack a startling amount of detail for games this old. Furthermore, the fighting mechanics are solid, the overarching story is engaging, and the game has an undeniable charm. Yes, many titles have since improved upon the systems featured in Shenmue (notably Grand Theft Auto and Yakuza), but you can’t shake the appeal of these classics.

    Shenmue I & II (for PC) Review

    If you have the “I want to squash all threats to the republic” itch that’s risen in recent days, do yourself a favor and play SNK’s Shock Troopers. This run-and-gun action game tasks you with saving a biotech genius from The Bloody Scorpion terrorist organization by going into battle using a single soldier (Lonely Wolf mode) or a three-person squad (Team Battle mode). Cool weapons, fun vehicle-based levels, branching pathways, and co-op play make for a very entertaining, G.I. Joe-like experience.

    Shock Troopers (for PC) Review

    “8-bit,” side-scrolling, indie platformers have flooded the video game market, and it’s easy to discount the entire genre as an easy-to-develop cash-in on nostalgia. Then there’s Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games, a studio created by former WayForward Technologies director Sean Velasco. You play as a shovel-toting knight who must rescue his partner, Shield Knight, from dastardly foes. It’s an incredibly satisfying and expertly crafted platformer that recalls games like DuckTales and Mega Man, but also has some of the most authentic NES-style graphics to appear in the HD era.

    Shovel Knight (for PC) Review

    Sonic Mania is, for all intents and purposes, the true Sonic the Hedgehog 4, discounting the intensely mediocre, polygonal game that appeared last console generation. Sonic Mania adheres to the classic Sonic gameplay of running really fast through loops and straightaways as you collect life-preserving gold rings, dispatch enemies, and free captured fuzzballs from hulking enemy machinery. On that level, Sonic Mania is very much like the sprite-based Sonic titles that came before it. That said, DRM issues and poorly designed bonus stages steal a bit of its shine.

    Sonic Mania (for PC) Review

    Whatever you think of more recent Sonic games, the Hedgehog’s earliest 2D platformers are undisputed classics. Sonic Origins updates Sonic 1, 2, 3, and CD for the modern PC. The compilation includes new cutscenes and other unlockables for you to enjoy. We just hope the bugs get ironed out. 

    Sonic Origins (for PC) Review

    Soulstice makes a name for itself as a solid new entry in the character-action genre. You control two characters at once, a pair of spiritually conjoined sisters, and you’ll need to aptly cycle between one sister’s melee and the other sister’s magic abilities on-the-fly. The dark fantasy themes add weight and atmosphere. 

    Soulstice (for PC) Review

    South of Midnight is a soulful odyssey into the American Deep South, a region rich with culture rarely seen in video games. As Hazel, you use magical weaving powers to fight monsters and heal pain. The gorgeous world draws inspiration from myth and folklore, presented with a subtle stop-motion style. Nimble platforming makes environments a joy to navigate. Ultimately it’s the heartfelt storytelling that turns South of Midnight into an experience that sticks with you.

    South of Midnight Review

    Of course the internet loves Stray because it’s a game where you play as a cat. But beneath the viral premise is a genuinely moving adventure game with puzzles to solve and action to undertake, a game full of humanity despite the robotic cyberpunk setting. Plus, you can meow whenever you want.

    Stray Review

    Using the standard Metroidvania formula as a base, Tales of Kenzera: Zau is a lush and heartfelt 2D sidescroller with a unique point of view. Inspired by African mythology, you’ll swap between Sun and Moon abilities to defeat enemies through expressive combat. Navigating the winding world serves as a metaphor for the creators’ own experiences navigating grief.

    Tales of Kenzera: Zau Review

    Tembo the Badass Elephant

    Tembo the Badass Elephant’s story takes place in Shell City, a populous city that’s plunged into a state of emergency by an evil force known as The Phantom. The National Army is unable to contain The Phantom’s destruction, so it enlists the aid of an old war buddy, the Rambo-like elephant known as Tembo, to push back the enemy troops. The game’s frequently compared to the 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog games, as it’s published by Sega and features a relentlessly speedy main character who obliterates foes. However, developer Game Freak (of Pokemon fame) also implemented elements from classic franchises such as Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country to create a well-rounded, 2D, action-adventure platformer that stands apart from the titles that inspire it.

    Tembo the Badass Elephant (for PC) Review

    The First Berserker: Khazan

    Khazan may be the first Berserker, but this game is actually the next installment in the ongoing Dungeon Fighter Online universe. This hardcore action game impressed us with its blend of offense and defense, with parry-heavy anime-style battles. The brutal difficulty pushes your skills as far as they go, almost too far in some instances. If you want a meaty combat game that truly tests you, consider The First Berserker: Khazan.

    The First Berserker: Khazan Review

    Blending Japanese history and mysticism with top-notch voice work and Akira Kurosawa film flair, Trek to Yomi is a cinematic experience that features gorgeous, black-and-white graphics. The samurai game isn’t much longer than the films to which it pays homage, such as Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai, but it’s densely packed with flashy combos, parries, and level exploration. Trek to Yomi is easily one of the best action games on PC, and deserving of our Editors’ Choice award.

    Trek to Yomi (for PC) Review

    Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

    Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection combines two acclaimed entries in the Uncharted series. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End brings closure to Nathan Drake’s story, while Uncharted: The Lost Legacy follows Chloe and Nadine as they embark on a new adventure. Few games come closer to becoming full-on interactive action movies, and now PC players can enjoy these globetrotting thrills. 

    Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (for PC) Review

    Warframe has continued to grow and evolve since its 2013 launch. That’s how the free-to-play, pseudo-MMORPG has fostered such a passionate fan base. What holds Warframe together, though, is the wickedly fun combat that blends stylish swordplay, powerful gunplay, and incredibly nimble movement. You must grind to make significant progress, but it’s the most enjoyable grinding you’ll ever experience.

    Warframe (for PC) Review

    Like the two installments before it, Watch Dogs: Legion focuses on hackers attempting to take down ctOS, a security system that invades people’s lives. Though this series entry doesn’t stray far from the Watch Dogs formula, it breaks from the past by letting you play as multiple characters found in the open world. This design choice prevents you from bonding with the protagonist, but it serves the greater narrative of people uniting to stop an oppressive power. Combine that with the series’ trademark hacking mechanic, and you have the strongest Watch Dogs title yet. Unfortunately, the PC game suffers inconsistent frame rates.

    Watch Dogs: Legion (for PC) Review

    Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars

    Need even more mech action in your gaming life? Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars is a 4K update of a PlayStation 2 Konami cult classic. The fast battles, awesome weapons, and stylish anime visuals remain timeless, even if some issues reveal the game’s true age. Still, whenever an old game as good as this gets an unexpected new lease on life, you owe it to yourself to give it a spin.

    Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars (for PC) Review

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