We've rounded up the best deals for Saturday, November 15, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers.
Ninja Gaiden has had an incredible 2025, and today, you can score one of the franchise's most unique entries for 32ドル.48. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound released in August and was created by The Game Kitchen. In our 9/10 review, we wrote, "Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound looks and sounds incredible, and the fast but thoughtful combat is so satisfying it's hard to put down."
NBA 2K26 is on sale this weekend for 29ドル.99, which is the lowest price we've seen to date. You can score a copy for Switch, Switch 2, PS5, or Xbox Series X at this price. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "Ball Over Everything" is a fitting description for NBA 2K26. The smooth on-court action is better than ever and MyCareer’s excellent started-from-the-bottom journey to the pros story make it so the imperfections are easier to ignore."
Best Buy has a huge sale on this Glorious mechanical keyboard today, allowing you to save 250ドル. This keyboard is fully customizable, so you can switch out switches, keycaps, and more with ease. If you've been looking to upgrade your setup with a luxury mechanical keyboard, this is a deal worth your attention.
Amazon has the Apple AirPods 4 on sale for 84ドル.99 today, a price even lower than last weekend! These earbuds feature Spatial Audio, up to five hours of listening time per charge, and so much more. Apple AirPods 5 likely won't be out for a good bit, so now is the perfect time to pick up a pair of new AirPods if your old ones are giving out.
The Beats brand has continued to provide quality wireless earbuds throughout the last few years, and the Solo Buds are no exception. These small earbuds may come with a tiny case, but you can expect up to 18 hours of earbud battery life. For 39,ドル it's hard to find another pair of earbuds better than this ahead of Black Friday.
Crunchyroll Store is holding its annual Aniplex sale, meaning now is the only time you can save on some of the most expensive anime Blu-rays out there. Today, you can score the Gurren Lagann Complete Box Set, which includes both the original TV series and two movies, for 109ドル.99. This is a must-watch for any fan of the genre, and this box set is the perfect way to make this all-time classic a permanent part of your collection.
Amazon has the iconic Tantive IV available in LEGO form for 51ドル.19 this weekend. Normally priced at 79ドル.99, this set features a total of 654 pieces, recreating the ship that kicked off the Star Wars franchise. For collectors, this is a must-have, especially as it features a LEGO Star Wars 25th Anniversary brick.
If you're looking for DTI codes, IGN's got you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of all the active and working Dress to Impress codes in November 2025 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in DTI, including outfits and accessories like hats, bags, and jewelry.
Here are all the active Dress to Impress codes in November 2025 and the free rewards you get for redeeming them:
Below, you'll find a list of expired DTI codes that no longer work and can't be redeemed as of November 2025:
Follow the steps below to redeem Dress to Impress codes and claim free rewards in DTI:
If the code you're trying to redeem in DTI isn't working, it's likely because of one of two reasons:
When inputting a DTI code in Roblox, make sure it's spelled correctly (for example, a capital I isn't a lowercase l, 0 and not O, and vice versa) and that there are no spaces before or after the code. We'd recommend copying and pasting codes straight from our article to ensure they're correct as we've tested and verified that the codes on this page are working ourselves.
If your DTI code still isn't working after checking for typos, it's more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Dress to Impress.
To get more Dress to Impress codes, the best way is to join the official DTI Discord server. While we check for new codes daily, the quickest way to know about new Dress to Impress codes is to follow the Roblox experience's official Discord server where updates are posted in real time.
You can also check the Dress to Impress X account and the official DTI Roblox Group page.
We currently don't know of any upcoming DTI codes now that the two-year anniversary codes have been released. We'll update this article once we find out more information on new Dress to Impress codes.
Dress to Impress is a popular dress-up Roblox Experience available on PC, console, and iOS and Android mobile devices. In it, you put on your best outfit to complete a specific theme and walk the runway in a bid to earn votes from other players and become a top model. As you gain votes, you gain ranks and can access more clothing and accessories, so make sure you're truly dressed to impress! Also, for toy lovers and collectors, you can now pre-order a mystery pack of 2 Dress to Impress minifigures right now for 30ドル at Walmart.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG or making miniatures.
We’ve seen stories built around redemption arcs plenty of times before, and if I’m being honest, I’m a total sucker for them. A sarcastic baddie who, despite their disdain for the law, gains enough empathy to save the day – what’s not to like? After eight episodes full of cliffhangers, surprising plot twists, and patience-testing puzzles, Dispatch has finished its own rumination on the topic, allowing me to take a more active role in determining who amongst its strong cast of charming superheroes deserves a second chance. It’s fitting, then, that developer AdHoc Studio has similarly revived a style of video game I worried was fading into the background, confidently injecting the interactive narrative genre with exciting new life.
Dispatch takes place in a captivating bizarro Los Angeles where superpowered beings, aliens, demons, and all manner of extraordinary humanoids coexist with regular people. As you can imagine, not every gifted being is benevolent, and many choose (or are forced into) a life of villainy. To help manage the onslaught of supers roaming the streets, an organisation called the SDC has stepped in, launching an insurance-type racket that allows citizens to pay for the privilege of a powerful watchdog. One of the aforementioned good guys is our discerning protagonist, Robert Robertson — otherwise known as Mecha Man — whose heroic aspirations are dashed when a rogue explosive renders his suit useless, leaving him to take on the role of a call centre worker at a small branch of the SDC.
That’s not all, though, as due to his lack of tenure, Robert is tasked with managing a group of barely reformed villains, lovingly called the Z-team, whose snarky attitudes and violent tendencies leave a lot to be desired. Across Dispatch’s approximately eight-hour runtime, it’s compelling to watch Robert grow in the wake of this sudden downgrade, experiencing the peaks and valleys of shift work. I found myself invested from start to finish thanks to Dispatch’s grounded, witty writing and the heartfelt performances delivered by its sizable cast.
Your time with Dispatch is split into two distinct parts: most of the time, you’ll be chatting through beautifully animated cutscenes, picking between amusing dialogue options and completing quick-time events like those seen in The Wolf Among Us or the Life is Strange series. Certain decisions trigger a heart-pounding ‘X Person remembered that’ notification at the top of the screen, which feels like a refreshing jolt of nostalgia in 2025. Not every decision is as impactful as you might expect, and more often than not, my choices led to unique jokes or funny animations rather than game-shifting consequences. Crucially, though, when the credits finally rolled — avoiding any spoilers — the ending I received still felt true to my version of Robert. It says something that I’m keen to jump in again, to see how the other narrative branches pan out.
The rest of your time is spent working at the SDC as a Dispatcher, assigning superheroes to a variety of jobs. Using your mouse and your wits, you’ll monitor a city map where hazard notifications periodically pop up with a timer, alerting you to various jobs the SDC needs to handle efficiently. Each hero under your command has a stat matrix, similar to that seen in Pokémon. You’ll receive a verbal description as a job appears, with your own task being to match your best hero, or in some cases heroes, based on their stats and personalities. You'll be told very soon after whether you’ve passed or failed, with success earning you experience points that lead to a permanent stat boost for each hero. Failure, on the other hand, can lead to your heroes getting hurt or, worse, being taken out of commission for the shift. Managing their individual skill sets as multiple clocks tick down in front of you is a surprisingly stressful task that compelled me to lock in.
On top of stat boosts, the Z-team can also earn special skills that impact how efficiently you operate. The superstar-turned-superhero Prism can use her powers of duplication to extend the timer on jobs, carving out precious moments to find a resolution. Elsewhere, Invisigal can utilize her lone wolf status to increase her speed if sent solo. All these moving parts compound over time and meld together well, creating a satisfying feedback loop that complements the complexity of the surrounding story without overwhelming you.
Aspects like team morale, along with how you impact poignant story beats, shape how effectively the Z-Team will perform, too. During one shift early in the series, the heroes are fighting against one another, hoping to avoid being cut from the team. This argumentative overtone bled into the dispatching minigame, with each member acting on their own accord rather than on my explicit orders.While I was frustrated by this at first, hoping to overcome the challenge with my wits, these moments of disobedience did well to integrate the interactive segments into the overarching story, with AdHoc effectively conveying Robert's irritability by ensuring you feel it firsthand. It’s one thing to write an emotive character for me to play as, it’s another to actually make me want to quit a job I don’t really have in the exact way they do.
A secondary hacking minigame is also part of your day-to-day activities, as Robert flexes the only superpower he has left: his mind. Here, you’ll roll a 3D object through a cybernetic maze as the clock ticks down, using directional inputs to forge a path towards the end goal. On top of the clock, you’ll also need to evade undulating anti-virus orbs and transfer power sources between light blocks to unlock new paths. It can be overwhelming at times as the difficulty scales over the course of Dispatch’s eight episodes, and muscling through these puzzles sticks out as some of the least compelling moments in a game that is otherwise full of them, which is a shame.
Still, despite all the roadblocks I faced at the hands of the Z-Team, I found myself defending them at every point, like a parent going to bat for their misbehaving children. The concept of ethically murky superhumans has been explored across film and TV before, but Dispatch often subverts expectations through a steady mix of dark humor and sincere interactions that kept me on my toes.
For example, while celebrating a win at one point, Robert and his team visit a villain bar, but the Thing-like Golem is forced to sit outside due to their humongous size. At this point, I’d taken quite a dislike to them and their attitude, and yet watching them slumped on the gutter with their earbuds in made them appear more human than rock monster. Just like that, a switch had flipped inside my head, and I was putty in the palm of AdHoc’s hands.
What makes Dispatch’s redemption story so effective is how it portrays its villains as emotionally complicated souls who may have lost their way rather than one-dimensional brutes. This empathetic lens makes it enticing to peel back the layers of the group, no matter how horrible they’re being or how petulant they seem. That’s not to say every character is worth forgiving, but instead, if you’re willing to make a risky dialogue choice, you may be rewarded with precious lore that could sway how you react in future situations, or what kind of ending you will receive.
All this drama is delivered through incredible vocal performances that bring Dispatch’s most profound moments to life with finesse, from the main cast of heroes to the background characters as well. Laura Bailey’s Invisigal masterfully dances between bratty and sincere, often encouraging me to break the rules with her flirty, if not threatening, style. Erin Yvette, on the other hand, subtly switches between Blonde Blazers' heroic prose and dorky banter with sharp precision. Notably, Aaron Paul’s Robert is more than just Hollywood stunt casting – he’s a standout here, delivering a nuanced performance as a man struggling to hold onto his optimism while reconciling with who he is outside of his giant mech suit.
]]>Note: This review specifically covers the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our campaign review or our multiplayer review .
Despite playing a new one every year, I never know what to make of modern Call of Duty – a first-person shooter so big, so successful that it is no longer a standalone game but a platform with file sizes so large it asks you to choose the other two things you’d like to have installed on your PC or console. This year’s PC release comes with a frustrating new anti-cheat that seemingly caused my CPU fan to choose death instead, so while I would normally base my playtime on that version, as God intended, I am initially slumming it on PlayStation 5 to bring you some early impressions of this year’s Zombies mode. I still have tons left to see as the community collectively hunts for Easter eggs and solves mysteries, but so far I’m interested in digging into what’s here, even if it may take a bit to get to the vital organs underneath these bones.
Zombies is my favorite part of Call of Duty, simultaneously the stupidest, silliest side thing the series has ever done and probably big enough to be a small video game in its own right. I remarked on a similar feeling in last year's review, but remember when this was a serious game series about war, and you were storming the beaches of Normandy, machine gun fire spraying sand in your face? When you died, you used to get quotes about how terrible war was from men who had lived it. Now, I play roulette on a big mystery box covered with skulls for weapons, the best of which is a ray gun, so I can shoot zombies in the face while a disembodied voice who calls himself the Warden taunts me from afar; my character quips about how said voice reminds him of his high school gym teacher. Zombies has been doing this for a while now, but I still don’t know whether to laugh or weep.
There is allegedly a story here – Raul Menendez, who apparently has been alive and drinking beer on his porch for the last decade, is back and threatening to cause chaos the world over, there’s a shady security company somehow involved, and massive, violent zombie death, of course. All of it is very well-produced and so goofy that the only thing I could do was watch the introductory cutscene while emulating the face that I imagine a cow would make if you gave it cocaine, chuckle a little, and get on with it. I suppose I answered my own question there, huh?
This year’s Zombies is hard to get a handle on so far because so much of what Zombies does will come down to the community working out the new maps in the coming days and perhaps weeks. Right now, we’re all kind of bumbling about, figuring out what’s what, which is simultaneously fun and frustrating. Many of the pain points from last year remain early on – for instance, you can’t make your loadout until you hit level four, which means if Zombies is all you want to do (and for me, it is), you’re stuck with a pistol and whatever you can earn by buying stuff on the walls after you’ve dispatched enough undead. Remember when games just let you have fun from the outset instead of unlocking it?
Otherwise, the underpinnings of Zombies feel much the same. You’re on a map, you open up new doors and paths with currency you earn, and you’ve got Pack-a-Punch machines to upgrade your guns. There’s additional armor you can apply plastered to the walls, an Arsenal to really crank up specific aspects of your weapons, Gobblegums for a little flavor if your mouth is lonely and you want a mid-battle pick-me-up, and so on. And of course, while you’re managing all of this, the undead rise and hunger for flesh. Ghouls, man.
The gameplay here is similar to last year’s – I still love sliding at a group of zombies and firing off a shotgun until they’re just paste and all that. No, what’s new are the maps. I’ve played both maps in their round-based modes, Ashes of the Damned and Vandorn Farm (the latter seems to be a part of the former, but I haven’t reached it in the standard mode yet), and so far I prefer the farm. Ashes of the Damned seems to be home to what will be the more traditional "find the secrets to finish the map" fare, while Vandorn Farm is more of a "you’re locked in here with the undead, kid, so try not to die too much" deal.
Our run on the former ended when one of my teammates, who didn’t communicate with the rest of us, grabbed a truck and started driving it to the next objective... before he decided it might be more fun to smash into the zombies until it exploded. The rest of us spent most of the map either trying to catch up to the truck or waiting in vain to be revived after we all died. It went about as well as you’d think. I’m interested in seeing what Ashes of the Damned has to offer with a more talkative crew; right now, if you’d told me I’d hallucinated the whole thing, I’d believe you.
The farm is more old-school. Zombies hang from the rafters in the big barn, the smaller one houses the Mystery Box where each of my teammates made offerings in the fleeting hope of a Ray Gun, and there was a house with a skeleton family sitting at the dinner table and a roof in desperate need of, well, more roof. It was a much more interesting map than Ashes of the Damned, and I enjoyed navigating its twists and turns, learning where everything was, and spending the in-between time killing the misbegotten horrors that were formerly people.
The problem, once again, was that we couldn’t figure out what to do yet. There was some mysterious infection growing on one of the machines that seemed to power the farm, but after we destroyed it, our objective told us to wait for it to come back. So we did, killing zombies and upping the round count. The issue is the infection never did reappear. Normally, this is a good thing. The antibiotics worked and the patient is recovering well, thank you. In this case, it meant we got to round eight, nothing happened, the four of us spent several minutes looking for any zombies we somehow missed or a way to progress, and then all three of my teammates left the game after we couldn’t figure out what came next. Hard to blame them. The farm’s cool, but I'd prefer something with some warmer colors and fewer rotting corpses, you know?
Like I said, I’m never sure what to make of Call of Duty, and that extends to this year’s Zombies. It certainly plays well and you can see the absurd amount of money spent to develop it on-screen – but the ooey, gooey, juicy parts of the mode haven’t revealed themselves to me quite yet. As is usually the case, its success will largely depend on how the maps shake out. I’ll need a bonesaw and a ribspreader to get to the still-beating heart of this thing, but that’s fine. I can’t say I’m not interested in seeing what’s in there. I just hope I don’t get anything on me in the process.
]]>As part of its early Black Friday Doorbuster Sale, Best Buy just dropped the best deals we may see this entire month on the Meta Quest 3S VR headset. Not only do you get 50ドル-70ドル off in instant discounts (249ドル for the 128GB model and 329ドル for the 256GB model), you also get a bonus 50ドル Best Buy gift card with your purchase. That's basically getting a Quest for as low as 199ドル. This is the best deal I've seen this year on a Quest 3S headset with warranty. Recently we've seen deals on refurbished models, but in this case the advantage of buying new is that you also get a couple of free games.
Note: The 128GB model includes two games, Batman: Arkham Shadow and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners. The 256GB model includes one game, Batman: Arkham Shadow.
The Meta Quest 3S is the best standalone consumer-oriented VR headset under 300ドル. It costs 40% less than the Quest 3 and yet retains most of its hardware and functionality, including the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, Touch Plus controllers with inside-out tracking, and mixed reality passthrough. However, whereas the Quest 3 has been updated with a new pancake lens design, the Quest 3S retains the Fresnel optics of the Quest 2. Although obviously not as good as the Quest 3, the Quest 3S still very much offers an immersive visual experience that is sure to impress. I myself logged in hundreds of hours on the Quest 2 before I moved on to the Quest 3. For newcomers who want to try out VR gaming without investing tons of money, of for people who want to give this as a gift to someone who's never tried VR, I would recommend the Quest 3S over the Quest, especially at this price.
TL;DR Quest 3S vs Quest 3:
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Activision has issued a statement in response to player outcry regarding the seeming use of generative AI art assets in a number of areas of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Players have been taking to social media today to complain about images they believe to be AI-generated across the game, primarily focusing on calling card images that they claim appear to use Studio Ghibli styling, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year.
I havent really looked at the Multiplayer and Zombie calling cards as closely and im willing to bet they're using ai on those too but its only the Campaign and endgame calling cards that are this type of blatant Sora/Grok artstyle pic.twitter.com/5qmEXhoQkJ
— Kume (@Kumesicles) November 14, 2025
In response to this outcry, Activision has issued a statement to a number of outlets, including PC Gamer, that acknowledges the issue...sort of: "Like so many around the world, we use a variety of digital tools, including AI tools, to empower and support our teams to create the best gaming experiences possible for our players. Our creative process continues to be led by the talented individuals in our studios."
It's worth pointing out that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Steam page also includes the following disclaimer: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets." Not exactly descriptive!
This isn't the first time Call of Duty has come under fire for this, either. This exact scenario played out back in February, when Activision admitted that it had used generative AI in the development of Black Ops 6, including in a zombie Santa loading screen that angry fans referred to as "AI slop."
Then, just this past August, Black Ops 7 associate creative director Miles Leslie clarified the team's stance on the technology further:
"We live in a world now, where there are AI tools. I think our official statement we said last year, around Black Ops 6, is that everything that goes into the game is touched by the team a hundred percent. We have generative AI tools to help us, but none of that goes in-game.
"And then you're going to say, ‘Yeah, but it has.' I'll say it has by accident. And that was never the intention. We've come out and been very clear that we use these as tools to help the team, but they do not replace any of the fantastic team members we have that are doing the final touches and building that content to put it in the game.
"So everything you play: human-created and touched. AI tools in the world we live in: it's how do we streamline it? That's really the goal. Not replace, but streamline."
In response, IGN asked why the zombie Santa and other generative AI images hadn't been removed from the game yet, to which Leslie said that was not his department, and that "the team is actively looking at that stuff." It is unclear if, why, or how Activision's stance on this has changed over time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out now. We've given the campaign a try and aren't totally crazy about it, with our reviewer saying it's " a wild one thanks to the scope of its ambition, but the big swings it takes don't always land, leaving it an uneven step down from last year."
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
]]>Ubisoft was, at one point not too long ago, working on a brand new Splinter Cell game. But it morphed over time to become XDefiant, according to a new report.
This comes from a Bloomberg story about AdHoc Studio, the developers of workplace superhero comedy game Dispatch, which describes their journey from Telltale Games to Ubisoft to their own independent studio. The leadership of AdHoc began working together at Telltale Games, working on Tales from the Borderlands, before Nick Herma, Dennis Lenart, and Pierre Shorette departed for Ubisoft in 2017. There, the trio worked on a new entry in the Splinter Cell franchise.
"I was so excited to be a part of this and help revitalize it, because it’s been dormant for a while," Herman told Bloomberg. "And we thought we could tell a great story and do something the fans would love."
However, they explain that Ubisoft was beginning to push games as a service hard across its portfolio, and Splinter Cell didn't quite fit that mould. Over time, the Splinter Cell project transformed into what would become xDefiant, a free-to-play first-person shooter that launched to middling reviews last year and shut down just this past June, taking two entire studios with it.
The trio eventually reunited with Michael Choung, another former colleague from Telltale, to start AdHoc Studio in 2018. While working on a version of what would eventually become Dispatch, they also took on a scriptwriting co-dev gig on The Wolf Among Us 2, only to pull out of the project after writing an 800-page script due to frustrations with a lack of creative control. That project, last we heard of it, seemed similarly ill-fated.
Eventually, though, the group was able to pull together the final version of Dispatch with the support of both a publisher and a number of well-known actors thanks to casting director Linda Lamontagne. A last-minute deal with Critical Role for another game helped get them across the finish line.
As for Splinter Cell, fans remain bereft of a new game, with the last new Splinter Cell title being Blacklist from way, way back in 2013. There's allegedly a remake of the original 2002 game in the works, but Ubisoft has been so quiet about it since 2022 that it's hard to say whether or not it will ever fully emerge.
Dispatch, meanwhile, is excellent. We're working on a review in progress as each episode comes out, but you can read our thoughts on the first two episodes here for now, where our reviewer says they're "totally enthralled in this world, and I’m keen to get tangled up in Robert’s fractured personal life."
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
]]>Just like pretty much everything else these days, the prices of gaming monitors have risen significantly, especially if you’re looking at displays with OLED panels, massive screens, and high refresh rates at sharp resolutions. Luckily, there is still an excellent pool of affordable monitors out there that don’t sacrifice image quality and features as much as you’d think. Just look at the AOC Q27G40XMN with its impressive mini-LED screen for around 300,ドル which feels like a minor miracle in the age of tariffs. It's my top pick for a reason: It competes with monitors that cost hundreds of dollars more and is an object lesson in the kind of quality that's available on a limited budget... if you know where to look.
The best budget gaming monitors may lack certain technology and features, but they still provide an excellent display to enjoy all the capabilities of your gaming PC. Even mid-range graphics cards and CPUs can be pushed to the extreme, as high refresh and 4K monitors can go for relatively cheap. While there are often trade-offs, like height-adjustable stands on the low end and value-adds like KVM switches on the high end, by focusing on performance and your personal "must haves," you can find truly great values at every price point.
Now, not all budget gaming monitors are created equal, and if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. A 100ドル monitor might be a great deal upfront, but chances are good it’ll die quickly and/or strain your eyes as you game, doing more harm than good in the end. Our picks may cost a bit more than 100,ドル but their solid builds, excellent panels, and gaming features make for a better experience. However, just like any other gaming accessory, nicer gaming monitors are available if you’re willing to spend more.
I was saddened to see my previous pick, the Xiaomi G Pro 27i, disappear from availablity, but AOC quickly swooped in with its own mini-LED showstopper. The Q27G40XMN puts picture quality and gameplay first with its 27-inch Quantum Dot Mini-LED enhanced display. It's bright, vibrant, esports-tier fast, and offers a killer HDR gaming experience thanks to its 1,152 local dimming zones.
For around 300,ドル this monitor is simply one of the best values in affordable PC gaming. Because of its use of a mini-LED backlight, it's able to reach a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and offer deep, highly localized contrast. It checks all of the boxes for a "true" HDR experience at a fraction of the cost of most of its competitors.
The Q27G40XMN isn't the only mini-LED monitor available around this price, but it has far more local dimming zones than most others. While that's one feature among many, it's absolutely critical for the best viewing experience. Most others around this price only offer around 330 local dimming zones and the difference is night and day. The AOC keeps shadows and dark areas in check with a minimum of blooming (glowing around darks from the surrounding lights).
On top of all that, the Q27G40XMN hits the sweet spot for resolution and refresh rate. Its 2560x1 440 resolution won't take a super computer to run at high frame rates and with a peak refresh rate of 180Hz, motion blur and input latency are at a minimum, so you can enjoy everything from competitive esports to your favorite cozy game.
The trade-off comes in the form of limited inputs and a pretty basic stand. But for what you're getting, it's well worth the investment.
The Asus TUF Gaming VG277Q1A is a killer value that's able to run with ease on a wide range of hardware. You won't need the latest graphics card to push this display to its limits, and thanks to its VA panel, you can enjoy deeper blacks and wider dynamic range in all types of games. With a 1ms gray-to-gray response time and game-enhancing features to give you an edge in competitive shooters and esports, it offers great bang for your buck.
In this price range, I tend to look toward VA panels. Though IPS panels are known for their colors, VA panels like the one used here are often just as good (or close to it) while offering a substantially better gaming experience due to their improved blacks. This model is also decently bright for the price at 350 nits, so colors will pop and gaming in well-lit rooms won't be an issue.
It also offers some game-enhancing features designed to give you an edge in competitive matches. You can enable an on-screen reticle for games that lack one, turn on Shadow Boost to peek into the dark and easily identify enemies, and turn on an Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) mode to reduce motion blur for a smoother, clearer gaming experience.
There are only two big drawbacks worth knowing before pulling the trigger. First, like a lot of gaming monitors around this price, the stand isn't height adjustable. It supports VESA mounting (100x100mm), so you can grab your own aftermarket stand or monitor arm if you can't get its positioning to your liking, but that means spending a little extra money if it's not a perfect fit right out of the box. Second, while its spacious 27-inch screen is a Pro for immersion and taking up more of your field of view, it's a con for total crispness, given its 1080p resolution. This monitor is as big as you can go before the screen door effect sets in, so while it looks good, it's not as sharp as a 24-inch display at this resolution.
What it brings to the table is far more than what it lacks, however, and this is an upgrade I recommend if you want noticeable improvements to your gaming experience without overspending.
The LG Ultragear 27GN800-B is a great upgrade for gamers on a budget. For under 300,ドル you get a boost in resolution to 2560x1440, which brings a serious increase in sharpness compared to a 1080p monitor. Those crisp visuals will pop even more thanks to great color accuracy and decent factory calibration. Its 27-inch screen is spacious enough to deliver an immersive gaming experience that perfectly balances crisp details with reasonable system requirements.
This 27-inch gaming monitor excels in other areas, too. It has a 144Hz refresh rate and is compatible with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync for smooth, tear-free HDR gaming. One aspect that I place a lot of value on is that it features Low Framerate Compensation. If your system struggles to hit the 144Hz maximum, the monitor is able to insert frames and sync with the refresh rate, making games that would otherwise be choppy play more smoothly.
The biggest drawback to this display is that its stand isn't height adjustable. Depending on your desk setup, you may find that it's not positioned perfectly for your height. It supports a standard 100x100mm VESA mount, however, so it's easy to swap the included stand with something more adjustable if height is an issue. Still, it's got the feature set and affordable price to make this a prime pick.
The KTC H27P22D is an object lesson in how far the budget gaming monitor market has advanced. Coming in at 400,ドル and regularly on sale for much less, it shows that you don't need to spend an arm and a leg to get a great, high refresh rate, 4K gaming experience. In truth, I find it hard to find too much to criticize about this display. It's a well-rounded package at an exceptionally reasonable price. If you have the hardware to run it, it is absolutely worth considering.
In addition to its crisp 4K resolution, the H27P22D offers an impressively speedy 160Hz refresh rate. This comes with full support for AMD FreeSync Premium and compatibility with Nvidia G-Sync, so you can enjoy a smooth gaming experience even if you can't quite hit that high refresh rate. It's a stellar pick for console gaming too, thanks to its dual HDMI 2.1 ports. Just bring a headset or pair of speakers because there are none included here, though given the quality of most monitor speakers, I don't consider that a major drawback.
As is common with budget gaming monitors, there's a bit of overpromising in the marketing, but its real-world performance remains impressive for the price. While its 400 nits of peak brightness isn't bright enough for true high dynamic range, it's certainly bright enough to deliver a vivid SDR gaming experience. Its color coverage is also great, though, unlike more expensive 4K gaming monitors, it's not calibrated at the factory. It's fine for gaming where perfectly accuracte colors are less important, but for creative work, you'll need to invest in a colorimeter or find a downloadable ICC profile. It also lacks a USB hub (its sole USB Type-A port is for software upgrades only), so you won't be able to connect peripherals directly.
Given everything you're getting here, its shortcomings are more than forgivable. These same features would have cost hundreds and hundreds more only a couple short years ago. The KTC H27P22D is a gift to budget-conscious gamers interested in upgrading to Ultra HD.
An ultrawide curved monitor is a great choice if you want an immersive gaming experience, and the Dell S3422DWG stands out as the best budget ultrawide. It has a contrast-rich VA panel with a resolution of 3440x1440 that provides a vibrant, sharp image that looks great in any genre of game. The 21:9 aspect ratio and slight curvature of the screen wrap around your field of vision, so you can focus on the action occurring in your games rather than outside distractions.
When it comes to large ultrawides like this one, I always prefer the "1440p" resolution over the ultrawide equivalent of 1080p. Though it does require a bit more graphics power to run than a 16:9 1440p monitor, the higher pixel density makes for a much better image.
The monitor features a solid 144Hz refresh rate and supports AMD FreeSync. This means your games should play butter-smooth. The S3422DWG can suffer motion blur behind dark objects, but motion clarity is otherwise strong.
Despite its competitive price, the S3422DWG is an attractive monitor. It has a height-adjustable stand, two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, and can even be used as a USB hub.
The Acer Nitro EDA270U Pbmiipx is an affordably great pick for anyone looking for a cheap but impressive curved gaming monitor. It lacks the bells and whistles of more expensive options, but Acer has wisely chosen to invest in the quality of the gaming experience instead of price-raising extras that you may or may not use.
This monitor packs 27 inches of screen real estate into a thin but stylish frame that won't leave you scrambling for desk space. It's easy to integrate into most setups and easy to adapt to thanks to is noticeable, but not distracting, 1500R curve. It's deep enough to add to your immersion without warping text or imagery as you play.
This monitor also offers solid picture quality for its modest sub-200ドル price. It uses a VA panel for improved contrast and is color rich, coming in a close second to its better-tuned IPS counterparts. Its wider dynamic range may just make up for what it lacks in color gamut, however. It also comes with game enhancing features like a 180Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium for smooth, blur-free gameplay.
For such an affordable price, you have to expect some trade-offs. You shouldn't expect many dedicated gaming features beyond the staples you'll find on every gaming monitor, and its port selection, while fine for pushing the monitor to its full potential, doesn't offer the same bandwidth as more expensive options.
As an entry-level or budget conscious on-ramp to curved-screen gaming, however, it's definitely worth considering.
We've all been there: The latest and greatest monitor comes out, full of features and promising an amazing gaming experience. You start to get excited and then see the price: 800,ドル 1,000,ドル maybe more. It's disappointing, to say the least, but thanks to the KTC MP27P6, you don't need to break the bank to bring cutting-edge features and a killer picture your own.
At around 500,ドル the MP27P6 isn't what most people would consider "budget," but it's hard to argue that it's anything other than a fantastic value. For around half the price of the big-brand competition, it offers dual-mode resolution and refresh rates, a mini-LED backlight behind a colorful Fast IPS panel for bright highlights and deep blacks, a built-in USB hub and KVM switch, software configurability, and one of the best out-of-the box calibrations you'll find at any price point.
It's almost like KTC looked at the feature list of a brand like Asus ROG and used it as a checklist for this display. While it's mini-LED backlight doesn't offer the same inky blacks as OLED monitors, it costs hundreds less and offers better dynamic range than any traditionally backlit monitor you can buy today. HDR gaming looks better, and if you dabble in content creation or photo editing, it's tight calibration makes it a perfect fit for creative work too.
It's also one of the only affordable gaming monitors you'll find that offers dual resolutions and refresh rates. For single-player or slower paced games, you can embrace the crispest possible picture at 4K, 160Hz. When it's time for competitive shooters and other esports, you can drop the resolution to 1080p and push its speed all the way to 320Hz.
It even offers software support, so you can change settings without worrying about diving into the OSD at any point, but it's here that its budget leanings are most apparent. You won't find the same level of polish in its software as you will from some of the more expensive options, like those from Asus or Acer, and it lacks advanced gaming features like Sniper Mode for an added competitive edge. But, if you can live without those OSD extras, this is a stellar pick.
If you're looking for a budget gaming monitor, a good sweet spot to aim for is around 200ドル-300ドル. You can find plenty of gaming monitors that are cheaper than that, but then you start running into issues with quality. You're going to have to make compromises either way, but in general, a gaming monitor should last 3-5 years, and a 100ドル gaming monitor probably isn't going to do that.
In order to find a gaming monitor that hits that price tag, you'll need to know what to look for in a gaming monitor, and figure out which areas are most important to you, so you can make the right compromise for your needs.
Gamers on a tight budget don’t have to make as many sacrifices as they once did, but there’s still a need for some compromise. In general, you can go for a higher resolution, or you can go for a higher refresh rate, but you sadly won’t be able to snag both in a budget gaming monitor.
1080p remains the standard go-to resolution in budget displays. It certainly lacks the clarity of modern 4K TVs, but on the plus side, the low display resolution means you won’t need high-end hardware to play new games and achieve high frame rates. 1440p resolution is a nice upgrade, and a better overall value if you can stretch your budget. A 1440p monitor with a 27" screen actually has a higher pixel density than a 48" 4K television. However, this means a 240Hz refresh rate will no longer be affordable.
4K is available on a budget but you should expect to pay closer to 400ドル or to make bigger sacrifices in brightness or screen size. You should also bear in mind the higher system requirements to run 4K resolution at high frame rates. In any case, this is the compromise you must make if you want to play at 4K for as little cash as possible.
The refresh rate of budget gaming monitors is generally 60 to 240Hz, with most landing at 144Hz or 165Hz. A refresh rate of 144Hz is a great all-around choice that can handle most games with ease, but 240Hz is a noticeable upgrade for players who only care about competitive games. 360Hz is also now more in reach for cheaper gaming monitors than it used to be.
It’s important to note that a monitor’s maximum refresh rate may not be supported by every input. For example, many monitors that reach up to 165Hz will only support 144Hz over HDMI. DisplayPort is the best bet if you want to use a high refresh rate.
A monitor’s display panel technology is an important and often overlooked factor. All the monitors we recommend use either an IPS or VA panel. IPS panels are prized for motion clarity, vibrance, and responsiveness, all of which makes them great for competitive gaming. VA panels have a much better contrast ratio and far superior dark scene performance, so they’re better for games with immersive, high-end graphics.
Screen size is less of a limitation than it used to be. Our budget gaming monitor guide focuses on 27" options, alongside a 34" ultrawide. Smaller monitors (24") tend to be less expensive and are also preferred by competitive gamers, who want the entire display to be firmly within their focus. Larger monitors (32" and up) are more immersive, but will start to lose detail if not accompanied by a higher resolution. With that said, it is possible to buy a monitor that’s too large for your desk, so make sure to measure if you’re unsure. If in doubt, a 27" monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio is a safe bet.
It’s wise to buy a monitor with Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync support, depending on whether you have an Nvidia or AMD video card. Many budget gaming monitors support both. My preferred picks all list the standards they support.
Finally, a note about HDR. While HDR is marketed on many affordable monitors, it unfortunately remains unimpressive on most as they only get up to a maximum 400 nits of screen brightness. A maximum brightness of 400 nits is considered "HDR compatible" because it will technically display this content but it will lack the dynamic range required to display more than SDR.
Budget gaming monitors typically come with either a VA or IPS panel. One of my picks is an IPS monitor with a mini-LED backlight and trumps both other panel types due to how the technology is implemented. Go with that if your budget and needs allow for it. Otherwise, the choice between VA and IPS comes down to three things: response time, colors, and contrast.
For response time and color accuracy, IPS panels are the way to go, though the former is much less of a concern than it used to be. These days, 1ms panels exist for both types. IPS monitors still tend to offer the most vivid and accurate colors, however.
For contrast, unless the monitor uses a mini-LED backlight like my top pick, VA has a major advantage. Because it doesn't use edge-lighting like IPS panels do, dark colors and blacks look much more rich. Because of this, VA panels can offer a better dynamic range.
While there is no "best," there are certainly better choices depending on what you value most in a gaming monitor.
The best time to buy a gaming monitor for a reasonable price (or a budget gaming monitor for even cheaper than usual) is during shopping events like Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday. Gaming monitor deals can also pop up during Back to School sales, and major retailers usually lower the price on older models to make way for new releases.
It’s really a matter of personal preference when choosing a gaming monitor, but there are some general rules of thumb to keep in mind. The first is the most obvious: Consider your available space. You don't want to get excited for your new monitor to arrive only to find that it won't fit into your gaming space. Next, consider the resolution of the monitors you're considering and how it relates to pixel density. A 24" monitor is more compact and is a good fit for 1080p gaming. For 1440p, 27-32" is a good fit, offering plenty of detail and a bigger-screen gaming experience. For 4K, I recommend a minimum of 27" to take advantage of its higher pixel count. Also beware of 1080p monitors larger than 27" as each pixel becomes visible at this size, leading to a screen door effect.
Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on X at @gamebynight .
]]>Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches on November 14, and we’re hosting a launch day livestream to celebrate. The latest entry in the long-running FPS franchise is set in 2035, 44 years after the events of Black Ops 6. Omnimovement is back, but there are added movement options and new game modes in both multiplayer and Zombies.
The livestream is presented by Xfinity, where you can get reliable Wi-Fi at a reliable price for five years. And with Unlimited Data, you won’t miss a moment of action. It’s powerful and secure with fast downloads. Gaming is better with Xfinity.
The livestream will start on Friday, November 14 at 5 p.m. Pacific / 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern. It will stream across IGN’s channels, and you’ll be able to watch it at any of these places:
If you’re not able to watch it live, that’s alright. You can still watch it in its entirety on our YouTube page after it’s over.
The stream will run for an extended period, but we don't have a specific amount of time in mind. We’ll feature as much as we can during the stream. You’ll see extended gameplay, get a look at what’s new in Black Ops 7, and different game modes to get a sense of everything on offer. See you there!
]]>Pixel Quest is a brand new 2D bullet hell RPG, where you'll face an onslaught of foes across biomes that range from the beach to the desert. The Third Dimension has been destroyed by 1x1x1x1, and now the Robloxians will need to work together to protect the pixelated 2D land of Robloxia. There are over 70 quests to complete, and legendary loot to obtain that will make it far easier to eviscerate hordes of enemies. With so much to do, you'll want some codes to make use of.
Here are all the currently active Pixel Quest codes. Be sure to redeem them before they expire!
Redeeming Pixel Quest codes is a straightforward process. Launch the experience and complete the tutorial if you haven't already done so. When you're in the main hub, here are the steps you need to follow:
Some codes will give you rewards that you need to claim from your Giftbox. On the righthand side of the screen, you'll see a yellow and red gift box. Click on this and you'll be automatically transported to the southeast corner of the main hub. The Gift Box menu will also automatically open, so you can drag them into your inventory.
If you receive a skin via a code, then you'll want to find the icon on the left side of the screen that shows a person and says Wardrobe. When you open the Wardrobe, you'll see three sub-menus: Skins, Badges, and Titles. You can then scroll through and see any Skins, you've unlocked.
Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!
Pixel Quest is currently in Alpha release, but that doesn't mean that the Pixel Quest! group isn't already working hard to bring new content to the RPG. The next update is planned for Sunday, 26th October. This mini update will introduce a new dungeon and new Legendary items.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
]]>99 Nights in the Forest is a survival horror Roblox experience that will see you scavenging for supplies by day and protecting your camp at night. While the main aim is to explore the forest and rescue four missing children, it's not quite as simple as it seems. Entities will stalk you at night, and there's the addition of cultists that will periodically visit your camp and attack.
Updates often bring new enemies to contend with and new ways to enhance your base. One of the earliest updates that the popular experience launched was the Classes Update. There are now over 20 classes in 99 Nights, all with their own perks. To buy new classes, you need Diamonds, and that's where the 99 Nights in the Forest codes come in handy!
These are the currently working codes for 99 Nights in the Forest:
Here are the currently expired codes for 99 Nights in the Forest that will no longer work. Since they're expired, you won't be able to get rewards from attempting to redeem them anymore.
When you launch into 99 Nights in the Forest, these are the code redemption steps you need to follow:
Code not working? Here's our advice. Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double check that you haven't copied over an extra space!
The next update is scheduled for November 15, with a teaser on the Roblox page that says the deer is hurt and may need help. The previous one added Daily Quests as a new way to get Diamonds.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
]]>Uma Racing is based on the popular anime and game franchise, Umamusume: Pretty Derby. In this Roblox experience, you'll play as an uma rather than a trainer – hopefully to victory. You'll start with just one uma, so use these Uma Racing codes to give you a big cash bonus. In doing so, you'll be able to purchase new uma to strengthen your team, MVPs, and intros. You never know, you might get lucky with your pick and get a Legendary uma.
The following codes are all active and working and can be redeemed for cash.
Ready to redeem the active Uma Racing codes listed above? Here are the steps you need to take:
These codes no longer work. We test all of our codes on a regular basis, so, as soon as a code is expired, we'll move it into this section:
Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
]]>A new Dungeons & Dragons lore book has provided fresh details on the fate of everyone's favorite Baldur's Gate 3 barbarian tiefling — and officially confirmed a happier canon ending than the game itself provides.
Warning! Baldur's Gate 3 spoilers follow...
Within Baldur's Gate 3 itself, a range of possible finales are possible for Karlach, your companion whose mechanical heart always seems on the brink of shutting down.
Indeed, without intervention, players can watch Karlach tragically burn up as her infernal engine finally combusts, or alternatively sacrifice herself and become a Mind Flayer. Another option, meanwhile, sees the player convincing Karlach to depart Faerûn to live in Avernus and hope for a more permanent cure — leaving the character's ultimate survival open to debate.
Now, fans think they finally have an answer for what happens next if Karlach does go back to Avernus, thanks to the canon Astarion's Book of Hungers D&D Expansion. This book confirms that a pair of other D&D installments that feature Karlach are set post-Baldur's Gate 3. Therefore, canonically, Karlach survived for several years after the game's epilogue, and is back in Faerûn.
"Progressing the year to 1501 and having Karlach in the city again implies she gets her engine fixed in canon," social media user RenMasaoAnkoku wrote, as spotted by GamesRadar+.
Them progressing the year to 1501 and having Karlach in the city again implies she gets her engine fixed in canon https://t.co/A8akZTyUzQ
— Ren Masao Ankoku (@RenMasaoAnkoku) November 12, 2025
The post shares an official timeline of fellow companion Astarion's life that places "the events of Baldur's Gate 3" in 1492, by Dalereckoning (DR). Meanwhile, the events of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn — in which Karlach appears — take place three years later, in 1501 DR.
This fits with what we already know of Karlach's possible future should she be convinced back to Avernus. In the game's epilogue, set six months later, Karlach mentions a recent adventure where she obtained a set of blueprints offering a possible solution for her infernal engine. Seemingly, then, these worked — for another few years, at least — to allow her back to Faerûn and hopefully another reunion with your party.
Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian may be done with major updates, but it's still releasing occasional hotfixes. The bulk of the studio is meanwhile working on what's next for the company — though it won't be Baldur's Gate 4. Still, it's expected that another studio will eventually make a sequel to the hugely-successful role-playing game. Here's hoping Karlach once again pops up in that.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
]]>The story campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has numerous restrictions tied to its always-online nature, with no method of pausing levels. You'll also be booted from your game if you're idle for too long.
As detailed in IGN's just-published Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign review (which rates the offering as a 6/10), the story experience — traditionally offered as a solo affair — is really more geared to being played via online co-op, which it supports for up to four people.
The downsides of that, however, are that the game offers no AI companions to fill in if you have missing spots on your four-person squad, no checkpoints, no difficulty options, and the need to repeat tasks clearly designed for completion by multiple players if you are playing solo.
"Playing solo is borderline tedious due to having to repeat multiple objectives, such as placing C4 on a building yourself four times rather than splitting them up as is intended," our review notes as one example of this.
Set in 2035, Black Ops 7's campaign features a starry cast that includes Gilmore Girls and This is Us star Milo Ventimiglia as the returning David Mason, alongside Guardians of the Galaxy hero Michael Rooker and Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress Kiernan Shipka.
Long-term Call of Duty fans may raise their eyebrows at some of the more fantastical sequences presented in the mode, with trippy visuals and towering bosses more often seen in something like Activision's former stablemate Destiny. But it's here that the offering also provides some variety.
"Dodging giant falling machetes like you’ve stumbled into a Looney Tunes cartoon is a one-off joy, as is taking control of a lavish luxury boat and ramming into the side of a building," our review continues. "Moments like this feel pinched right out of Christopher Nolan's back pocket and sit perfectly in the Call of Duty mold."
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives just 12 months on from last year's Black Ops 6 — the first time that the veteran shooter franchise has gone back to the same well of the Black Ops sub-brand for a second year running. The tight turnaround comes just as EA's rival Battlefield franchise makes its own big return, amping up the pressure on Activision's new shooter installment.
IGN's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer review so far is still in-progress though, initially at least, sounds more positive.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
]]>Plants Vs Brainrots is a Roblox experience that combines elements of Tower Defence with mechanics from Roblox's two most visited and played games – Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot. You'll buy seeds, place them in your garden, and then wait for your plants to attack brainrots as they make their way down the catwalk.
As well as combining gameplay elements from both experiences, Plants Vs Brainrots also has codes. So, if you're getting ready to plant crops, earn brainrots, and fuse them, here are some codes to give you a little boost.
These are the currently working codes for Plants Vs Brainrots:
There are currently no expired Plants Vs Brainrots codes.
When you launch into the Plants Vs Brainrots experience, these are the steps you need to follow to redeem codes:
Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double check that you haven't copied over an extra space!
The next update scheduled for Plants Vs Brainrots is on Saturday November 15, which is an unknown update. The previous update was Merge Madness, which introduced a new fusion machine alongside other content like new weather, brainrots, story missions, an dmore.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
]]>Looking for Grow a Garden codes? Plenty of Roblox experiences have codes, and Grow a Garden is no exception. Way back during the Lunar Glow Event, a code redemption system was added. Since then, however, we hadn't seen a new code until the Zen Update. Even if they're few and far between, every time there's a new code in GaG, IGN will have you covered.
Unfortunately, these codes have now expired:
Now that there's a code redemption system in the Roblox experience, here are the steps you need to follow to use Grow a Garden codes:
Code not working? There are usually two reasons why this happens. It's either because:
If a code has been entered incorrectly or is expired, it will say the "code is invalid." To stop this from happening, we'd recommend copying and pasting the code directly from this article. We check and test each of the codes before we add them to our articles. However, when copying them, you can sometimes accidentally include an extra space somewhere, so always double check there's no additional spaces!
If new codes are added to the game, we'll update this article, so you can always check back here and keep up-to-date with the latest codes. Grow a Garden has its own dedicated Discord server where codes will be announced, as well as game updates.
Grow a Garden is a new Roblox experience that's become incredibly popular since it launched. The gardening simulator allows players to show off their green fingers, as you buy seeds and plant a variety of crops from basic carrots to exotic dragon fruit trees.
As fruit and vegetables finally sprout, you'll be able to harvest them to sell for Sheckles. To go from a beginner gardener to a pro worthy of awards, you'll want your crops to experience mutations that increase their value. This can happen randomly, with Gold and Big mutations being down to chance, while weather events like snow can increase your luck of a Frozen mutation. There's also gear, and even pets now, that can affect how fast your crops grow, their value, and more.
Grow a Garden hosts new events each weekend, where players can come together and try out the fresh content for the ever-expanding game. The next update is planned for Saturday November 1, 2025.
There isn't any known information about this update yet. Events now typically run for two weeks, with the first week being the time they're introduced, and the second week when additional rewards are added to the event.
As always, to stay up to date with everything in the new event, visit our Grow a Garden guide. We put out new content as soon as the event goes live, and keep it updated all through the week.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
]]>Note: This review specifically covers the Multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our Zombies review or our campaign review .
After a very promising multiplayer beta at the start of October, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is here and I'm already back on my bullshit. After a brief hiatus, I've been playing every year since the multiplayer-only Black Ops IIII (yes, that was the title), and I always have a good time. I mean, functionally and mechanically, it's consistently solid – but it's the stuff in and around that core which makes or breaks Call of Duty’s multiplayer. For Black Ops 7, they've refined last year’s already razor sharp Black Ops 6 with the addition of wall running and jumping mechanics, as well as smoothed off some of the rough edges in the user interface and weapons tracking. I've only played around four hours so far, so I have a lot more to see on the live servers before my final review, but this might end up being my favorite CoD multiplayer since Black Ops Cold War.
Probably the biggest change to BLOPS7 is also its most subtle: skill-based matchmaking (or SBMM) is no longer the default in multiplayer, and the vocal online community that has been crying for this couldn't be happier. Is the wider, more casual Call of Duty audience going to be just as excited? I'm guessing no once they feel the effects of this decision for themselves. This might be a controversial take, but I really think SBMM is what keeps the vast majority of people playing, even if they don't realize it or actually know what that is in the first place.
The default playlists in BLOPS7 now only minimally consider the skill of the people it puts into a match together while filling a lobby. That means you're getting thrown in with players who run the gamut, from complete newbs to the most hardcore of the hardcore. If you're used to the old SBMM system, the result here is that you're probably going to think you really suck at Call of Duty all of a sudden.
I never held any sort of delusions about my own skills, and I didn’t need to be a pro to have fun, but stripping away the veneer of only facing players at a similar level as myself has been pretty humbling – almost shockingly so. I'm seeing replays from players who are unlike anything I've faced in the past. "Is this guy cheating– oh, nope, he's just insanely good, hell yeah."
The obvious upside to this (other than satisfying the frequent cries for it in recent years) is it's going to force a lot of people to get better. But the downside is that it can be very frustrating until you do, especially if you’ve only ever been used to a level playing field. That’s why I think it's awesome BLOPS7 does still have SBMM matches available if you want them. It's not obvious, but there is a classic matchmaking lobby that pairs you with people near your current skill level. My personal prediction is that they'll shift the default back to SBMM once the Christmas CoD crowd starts logging on for the first time, but it’s still nice that both camps can be satisfied.
(Protip: use the SBMM lobbies to grind out your levels and weapons, and then dive into the default matchmaking when you feel confident. It's the best of both worlds. You can do all the level and camo grinding against people near your own skill level, and then jump back into the Wild West to hone your actual skills. Have some cake. Eat it, too.)
None of this takes away from the fact BLOPS7 multiplayer is super fun, and it's done away with a lot of the things I found annoying in previous years. As I mention nearly every time I review CoD multiplayer, I love going hard trying to unlock all the skins for all the weapons for the first three or four months at least. This year, there's a new, wonderful tracker you can instantly access from the lobby between matches. It's right there with your Dailies, showing you stuff like how many more headshots you need with the AK-27 to unlock the next camo.
This is so awesome for collectors like me. Previously, the move was to jump into the weapon menu and check your customizations, then open up the camo menu and check your progress. It was cumbersome and annoying and ate up time between matches you could otherwise be using to make adjustments to your loadout, if you wanted. Now, with the press of a button, boom!
Another feature I'm loving is the ability to reroll your daily challenges. Let's say one of them requires you to get three kills with a melee weapon, but you'd rather not. Give it a reroll, my friend, and now you can try out something new. Of course, you run the risk of getting something crappier, but that's gambling for you. You can reroll one challenge once a day, and if you end up with something worse, well, it's no different than the old system.
One very small gripe I do have with the interface is the weapons menu will tell me I have new unlocks but not which ones, so then I have to go through and manually hunt them down. I'm the kind of person who'll do "select all – mark as read" on my personal emails rather than have that notification number above the icon, so not being able to easily clear this gives my brain some mild discomfort. I'd love an option to immediately show you only the unlocks you haven't checked out yet.
New this year is the 20v20 Skirmish mode. Set on very large maps, it feels quite Battlefield-y so far. I much preferred the Ground War 100-player mode from 2019's Modern Warfare and still want that to come back, as Skirmish just doesn't hit the same notes.
You spawn with your team and move in to capture and control various points across the map. It's basically a giant version of Hardpoint, but with vehicles and certain high-value designations that help you accumulate points. When you die, you have a 10-second respawn and then you wingsuit back onto the map. I've only played Skirmish for a couple rounds so far, and I dunno, man – it just hasn’t felt like it comes together in a cohesive way yet. The maps are giant, but not Warzone huge, and I'm having a hard time feeling out a playstyle that works for me.
Sniping fools from the rooftops while they try and hold the point is fun, but you're also completely wide open to getting blasted since everyone respawns from the air. And those reentries are not like the slow parachutes in Warzone, either. The wingsuit lets you travel fast and gives you a lot of mobility. You can land basically anywhere on the map, so if a pesky sniper has you pinned down, well, just respawn, land near their sniper nest, and let them have it. You're almost incentivized to die just to get a better position on the field.
When a point spawns inside a structure, it's not really fun to protect from the outside for the aforementioned reasons, but it's also not really that fun to try and hold from the inside. It's very chaotic, but not in an exciting way. I'm going to see if I can figure out a playstyle that satisfies my particular tastes, but right now I don't see myself playing Skirmish much after I finish up this review.
As I mentioned in my beta impressions (which you can read in full down below), the addition of wall jumps has made movement around the map that much more fun. That said, the tactical sprint is no longer available as a default option, but instead is a Perk now. I still find myself double-tapping the Shift key to try and get that extra boost of speed, but it’s not a huge loss when sprinting off walls and flying through the air is way more fun, anyway.
I really love bouncing off walls to get the literal drop on opponents, and when someone gets me by jumping from around a corner, guns blazing, all I can do is nod and give them a mental thumbs up. Somehow being able to run and jump off walls makes the overall gameplay feel faster, even without Tac Sprint. Definitely my favorite update to the Omnimove system. Last year it really felt like Omnimove was designed with controller-players in mind, and while that's still the case, the wall jump mechanic works just like any regular movement and is great for mouse and keyboard purists like myself.
I'm very excited to jump back into the multiplayer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. I haven't played it enough to declare a favorite map, although I will say Den and Retrieval are already my favorites in terms of looks. I still have to figure out my strategies for all the launch maps, and I still have to get good enough to get that sweet Play of the Game I've been chasing since the servers went live. But I’m having a lot of fun so far, and should have a final, scored review in the next week or so.
I look forward to the Call of Duty multiplayer beta each fall in the same way I look forward to the return of pumpkin spice lattes: I know exactly what I'm in for, and I always savor that first warm, familiar sip. This year's closed beta is the blast of violent, nutmeg-infused flavor I've been looking for since that first northerly chill swept across the land, and while it definitely feels like the CoD I’ve come to expect, there are a few new features I'm already really enjoying and a few more I'm really looking forward to unlocking.
I installed the beta Thursday afternoon and had planned to play it well into the night, rallying my dedicated group of Call of Duty friends (the Beef Lords) to join in on the fun. In fact, playing with the boys is absolutely my favorite thing about CoD, and even a given year’s iteration is only so-so, we still have a good time together.
Sadly, and I can't really fault it since this is a closed beta, every time I tried to squad up with my friends, I had a hard crash. In fact, it felt like I spent more time waiting for BLOPS7 to restart than I did in matches. That's a huge bummer, because I just want to run around shooting strangers in the face with my bros. Eventually I was able to get into a few matches with one friends, and good old Call of Duty fun was had by all. It still crashed, but only after a few matches this time. I had initially planned to hit the level 20 cap last night, but with all the time I wasted rebooting not only the BLOPS7 beta but also my PC, I was only able to make it to level 14. I know. I'm not proud.
Crashing aside, and no surprise here, but I’ve had a blast with what I’ve been able to play so far. I mean, it's Call of Duty, where the whole point is either to rack up as many kills as possible, or hold an objective... while also racking up as many kills as possible. I truly believe no one does it better than CoD, at least when it comes to gunplay. It's razor-sharp every damn year. It works exactly how I want it to work, it feels exactly how I want it to feel. It's as dependable as the sun rising in the east each morning.
The biggest and most immediate changes this year are updates to the Omnimove system first introduced in last year's Black Ops 6. If you're not familiar, Omnimovement is a control mechanic that lets you perform John Woo-esque flights of gun-firing fancy, while also allowing you to move around more naturally when you're on the ground. Previously, dropping prone would reduce your target size but would render your movement slow and cumbersome. Omnimovement lets you slide to prone and do sick dolphin dives, mantle walls, and look like an action movie star in everyone else's clips, firing your weapon with 360-degrees of aiming movement while on your back.
This year's Omnimovement system adds wall running and wall jumping to your arsenal. It basically lets you hop around the map like Jiminy Cricket, as you can chain up to three wall jumps together. It's really fun, though I haven't really used it tactically so far. Mostly I'm flying off walls just because it feels awesome, and if I happen to get the literal drop on an enemy, all the better.
It also makes moving around the map faster and gives you an advantage over mantling. When you mantle a ledge, your arms can't be used to shooting, on account of them being used to pull you up and onto that ledge. On top of that, it's kind of slow, and an opponent can use this to their advantage. You're basically a sitting duck until you get your feet all the way up, and those few moments can be the difference between life and death... well, usually death and a different kind of death.
Wall jumps change that, because rather than mantle over a ledge in the traditional way, you can just bounce off the wall and make your way to the top without using your arms. You never have to put away your weapon – heck, you don't even need to stop firing your weapon. It takes away that moment of complete vulnerability, and as long as there's a wall nearby and the next level up is reachable within three jumps, you can parkour your way to victory.
It's easier said than done, mind you, and I'm not yet skilled enough to consistently hit shots when I'm going up or down from a wall jump. But it's still fun as hell, and might be my favorite addition to BLOPS7 so far.
There are three maps in the closed beta: Cortex, The Forge, and Exposure. They're fine. They're not bad maps by any means, and I do like playing on them, but nothing about them really stands out to me in the way some of the maps from BLOPS6 did, either. Last year's Rewind map, with its super long corridors and building interiors, was one of my favorites, as was Skyline, with its secret passageway, various hiding spots, and multiple levels.
Then again, the maps in last year's beta were even worse (I’m looking at you, Babylon), so the middling nature of these is probably not an indication of overall quality.
Cortex is probably my favorite of the three this year just because it has everything I like in a map: outside lanes with the possibility of falling to your death, tight interiors to come face-to-face with opps, as well as medium-length interiors and exteriors that work well with LMGs, SMGs, and assault rifles. It lends itself really well to deathmatch and objective-based modes. Plus it has some sweet sci-fi incubator tanks where I presume the super soldiers of tomorrow are being grown from the cells of past heroes.
Exposure is a larger map, and has a lot of cool opportunities to really feel out the wall jumping and running. There's a dangling shipping container on the map that might as well have a Wile E. Coyote-esque sign on it saying "WALL JUMP HERE." Meanwhile, The Forge is pretty big, but it doesn't really have any super long, open lanes for snipers to trade lead back and forth. That's not to say there aren't some great opportunities to do just that, but it doesn't have the same feel as last year's Rewind, with its back alley and strip mall-front.
The Forge might not be my favorite map of the three, but it does have one of my favorite environmental features so far: a spinning, four-piece circular wall in the center of the map. During modes like hardpoint, the hardpoint will spawn in that area and people take turns either hiding behind or popping out from those spinning walls. It adds an extra layer of unpredictability when you're trying to hold an objective that I really like. You can't just lay prone with a sniper and peek around a corner, because the corner moves. That being said, there are a pair of lookouts on either side, so you can keep watch of the objective or just pick people off as they try to bumrush it. It's great. Even in deathmatch or Kill Confirmed it's fun, but it's really cool for Hardpoint and Domination.
According to the official BLOPS7 blog, there's a fourth map, Imprint. Either I've just had terrible RNG luck or they haven't actually turned that one on yet, because I haven’t seen it so far. I'm going to play the hell out of BLOPS7 over the weekend, so that could change.
Once you unlock all the level requirements, there are a total of 16 available guns. Right now, and I hope Treyarch is reading this, the M10 Breacher, the default shotgun, is stupidly overpowered. You can nail enemies from way farther away than the laws of physics should allow right out of the gate, and they'll fall down dead when you do so. You barely need to aim it to get a kill across a large room. That sort of shotgun behavior is fine, even expected, at close range, or when you've leveled up and thrown a bunch of attachments on it. But as a default gun, it's just too powerful.
On the flip side, and this is something I never expected I'd say, but the XR-3 ION sniper rifle is exactly where it should be, power wise. Usually I feel like sniper rifles lean toward being way too OP. Don't get me wrong, I still hate snipers, and I still think people who use snipers on small maps are weak and their bloodlines are weak. But when you get a kill with the XR-3 it feels earned. There's a level of finesse here I'm not accustomed to with previous sniper rifle iterations, and I've actually used it without feeling like a dirty sniperboy.
I've always loved SMGs in Call of Duty, but none of the three available this year are doing it for me as of yet. They feel a tad too weak, which is usually the case, but it's generally made up for by a high rate of fire and lighting-fast speed of handling. I'm going to have to wait and see on the SMGs until progress is fully unlocked, but for right now, they don't feel quite like they should, as if it takes one or two bullets more than I’d expect to down an opponent. I also don't love the LMG, the Mk. 78. Similarly to the SMGs, it feels like it takes a millisecond or two too long to effectively down an enemy. I'm going to need more time with that one as well to see how it ends up running when it's fully kitted out, but for right now I'm not feeling it at all.
The Assault Rifles this year are, much like last year, where it's at. While in previous years I ran with SMGs or LMGs, in BLOPS6 I fell madly in love with my XM4 assault rifle. This year I've been grinding on the M15 MOD 0, but I'm a level away from unlocking the Peacekeeper Mk.1 in the beta, which might be the best weapon in multiplayer, hands down. At Call of Duty Next, it felt like everyone was using it, so I’m excited to try it out again from the comfort of my own desk.
I've got an entire weekend with the closed beta, and I plan to hit that level cap and unlock as much as it will let me. The open beta next week will let you grind to level 30, and the best part is all your progress will carry over to the final game. I'm hoping CoD keeps to its promises, because the new features sound pretty sick: trading loadouts with friends and even copying them from enemies who killed you, XP carrying across all modes instead of on a per-mode basis, and the ability to re-roll the daily challenges, which I love. Also, the final game promises some of the sweetest gun camos yet, and I'm really excited to spend hours and hours of time I'll never get back just so I can have a gun that's all shiny. Until then, I'm really enjoying BLOPS7, and I’ll be back with a full review around launch.
]]>Note: This review specifically covers the Campaign mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our Zombies review or our multiplayer review .
Bucking the usual trend of breaks between numbered sequels, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is following just 12 months on from Black Ops 6, and you’d perhaps assume that meant only small tweaks to what was one of the series’ high points last year. But the teams at Raven and Treyarch evidently don’t see it that way, and have instead built one of the most unconventional CoD campaigns to date. In many ways, it doesn’t even feel like a CoD single-player mode. It’s more like a multiplayer experiment squeezed into a campaign shell, playing best when you’re accompanied by squadmates, echoing Zombies or the now-defunct DMZ at times. I recently criticised Battlefield 6’s single-player for playing it safe and not taking any risks, and to Black Ops 7’s credit, the same can’t be said here. The problem, however, is that not many of its big swings hit, resulting in one of Call of Duty’s most intriguing, yet flawed campaigns.
Its varied string of missions walks the tightrope between traditional military shooter and schlocky sci-fi nonsense, darting between worlds beyond our technological fingertips and deep within our most haunted of dreams. That spectacle is supported by sharp gunplay and a whole host of gadgetry and abilities that make moving around those worlds incredibly satisfying. But it all culminates in a brand-new endgame portion that stitches together aspects of CoD’s past open-world successes and failures in an attempt to become something new. In reality, that post-credits content is a repetitive shooting gallery that adds little to the excitement that leads up to it.
Much of Black Ops 7’s intrigue emanates from one fundamental design choice: for the first time in many years, a Call of Duty campaign is fully playable in four-player co-op, and it really does feel like it has been made with that in mind as the preferred method of play. This comes with both positives and negatives. Teaming up with friends is good fun, with fighting big bosses that have multiple weak points to fire upon simultaneously or stealthily working through an enemy area tactically, both coming with a good deal of satisfaction. But it also detrimentally affects the solo experience, from not having AI companions fill in for you if no buddies are online, or kicking you for inactivity if you’re idle for too long, to not even being able to pause due to its online-only nature. Its open areas and endgame portion seem catered toward a group experience as well, and can end up just a little lonely when zipping around by yourself. To an extent, it feels like Activision is finally admitting that most people come to its hallmark shooter for multiplayer fun, rather than the single-player story modes the series was founded on.
In fact, having played several missions in both co-op and single-player, I can confirm that playing solo is borderline tedious due to having to repeat multiple objectives, such as placing C4 on a building yourself four times rather than splitting them up as is intended. There are also no difficulty options this time around, meaning that, in theory, it should scale the threat depending on how many players are in your squad. In my experience, though, the number of enemies in a level remains the same, leaving me feeling overwhelmed by foes even in its earliest levels. By comparison, playing in a full squad makes these encounters a breeze, with not enough targets to go around sometimes. In fact, enemy numbers are uneven across the campaign as a whole, sometimes swarming you with dozens of rabid rushers, but at others, presenting you with a couple of soldiers wandering through a door when you’re expecting an onslaught. It’s, admittedly, a difficult balance to get right, but one that has not been achieved here.
As for the structure of the campaign, Black Ops 7’s story is delivered at breakneck speed, taking me just about five hours to reach the endgame. Its 11 missions threw me from one exotic location to the next, from one time period to another, and deep into nightmare realms full of otherworldly horrors and delights. The year is 2035, and new threats are here to instigate a global collapse once again. The re-emergence of Black Ops 2 villain Raul Menendez thrusts the playable unit, Spectre One, into action and soon has them facing off against evil tech company The Guild. What follows is a set of missions that throws you in and out of reality thanks to a fear toxin being weaponised by The Guild, led by Kiernan Shipka’s Emma Kagan, who is trading in Mad Men for mad mechs here.
A combination of cliched evil sci-fi tech corp and Batman Arkham scarecrow-esque antics leads each level to interesting places from a visual perspective, as long-buried memories of our protagonists are dredged up and morphed into horror-filled mazes. It makes for a more varied campaign when it comes to art design, with an impressive number of locations and creatures thematically filling them to gun down. I do wish there was a little more in terms of mission variety when it comes to actual level and objective design, though, with corridor shooting taking the lead in most of these excursions. There’s nothing to rival the creeping intrigue of last year’s Emergence conceptually and its branching objectives and playful enemy design, for example, nor the spy-like cool of infiltrating an embassy fundraiser or high-roller casino.
If last year’s Black Ops 6 leaned more into grounded espionage and subterfuge, 7 is a much louder proposition, choosing to demolish the lobby of a complex to gain access to it rather than sweet-talking the security guard standing in front of it. As a result, there is no shortage of big moments justifying its blockbuster label. Dodging giant falling machetes like you’ve stumbled into a Looney Tunes cartoon is a one-off joy, as is taking control of a lavish luxury boat and ramming into the side of a building. Moments like this feel pinched right out of Christopher Nolan’s back pocket and sit perfectly in the Call of Duty mold.
And that’s just the opening section of one of the standout missions, which takes place in Tokyo and has you dipping into its subway systems and leaping across rooftops. There’s a great sense of forward momentum to levels like these, and I’m a massive fan of them. I just wish more of the campaign were like this Japanese chapter, as I’m not so keen on the ones taking place in the more open-zone areas of the fictional French city-state of Avalon (itself a huge battle royale-sized hub), which struggle to bottle the same exciting energy. These typically have you moving across wider rural patches of its map in order to chase the next cluster of enemies to take down, and essentially serve as tutorials for its endgame. They’re a little less authored than others and fail to capture the same thrills as a result.
In fact, much of the time, it doesn’t really feel like a ‘Call of Duty’ campaign at all. Yes, it has the militaristic hallmarks, but borrows just as much from horde shooters like Left 4 Dead and its own in-house zombie modes. It makes for an uneven set of missions, some of which really don’t work for me, but with others that do manage to hit the spot when they capture some of the CoD cinematic legacy. They’re a rarity, though, and for every one of these, there is also a bizarrely dull sequence, such as the time you’re asked to play Frogger on a twisted, upside-down LA highway.
As you might expect, the gunplay is snappy and satisfying, with SMGs delightfully ripping through armoured enemies and sniper rifles really coming into their own and popping out bits of brain in some of the campaign’s open areas. Each weapon has a good weight to it and is super-responsive when pulling the trigger. It’s Call of Duty, they’ve been doing this for a long time now, and how good its guns feel shouldn’t come as a shock as you rip through enemy healthbars and armor chunks. These extra layers to their vitality do present a slightly more drawn-out cadence to gunfights, though, with a few extra bursts of the trigger needed to take down each. The firearms are supported by a fantastic selection of skills and gadgets, too, with killstreaks making their way into single-player, such as the joyously destructive war machine, allowing for quick mob clean-ups.
I’ll admit, I was initially sceptical of the near-future setting and Call of Duty’s return to tinkering with near-future tech when it comes to movement, but on the whole, the experiment is largely a success. Wall jumping can be a little clunky, but the kinetic super jump is very fun to use as a quick flanking tool, as is my favourite of the bunch, the grapple hook. Swinging up to roofs to find a better vantage point before swooping down on a wingsuit to get back up close opens up each level’s architecture in interesting ways. It may never reach that Titanfall 2 gold standard when it comes to FPS mobility, but there are flashes of it here, which is always welcome.
This desire to experiment also carries into its approach to boss design, which is by no means revolutionary when it comes to FPS campaigns, but a relatively new thing for Call of Duty. I appreciate the efforts made in order to make each have its own gimmick, even if they all ultimately come down to draining an oversized health bar while dodging projectiles. They certainly aren’t complex, but hitting the glowing weak points of a giant, bile-spewing plant in a cave of nightmares is certainly a step up from just pumping bullets into a Juggernaut for the hundredth time, especially when multiple targets are offered up at once and really make the whole co-op nature of the campaign feel worthwhile.
In fact, enemy variety is quite impressive this time around, with human, mechanical, and hallucinatory foes offering different threats that challenge you at all distances. Guild forces include a robot army, as well as traditional militia types such as the machine-gun-wielding Raider, colossal armor-plated Titan, and other NFL team-name adjacent units. Yes, most can be handled with some well-aimed assault rifle fire to the head, but there are more effective ways to deal with them if you choose to explore your arsenal.
I particularly enjoyed one incursion into a robotics lab, which equipped me with a Black Hat hacking device. I liked how it switched up the cadence of the unrelenting bullets a little, and meant I could disrupt and destroy these Terminator wannabes from cover. It even made a miniboss of this zone — an admittedly unexciting rotating turret — easier to take down. I appreciate that, in a game of such ferocious speed as this, you’re occasionally rewarded for taking a breath and using your brain to overcome objectives rather than solely relying on pure firepower.
It’s kind of a shame, then, that once the campaign’s set of linear missions is over, the endgame borrows little of this philosophy. After the main story’s credits have rolled, you’re offered a chance to experience its epilogue, which takes place in the open region of Avalon that’s teased throughout. If you played Call of Duty’s DMZ mode, then you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect here: it’s an extraction shooter, except it's not. You and up to three friends can team up and drop into this battle royale-sized map and complete the activities that litter it with eye-soreing regularity. On every street corner are Guild checkpoints or zombie-infested buildings to clear out as you progress through its difficulty-tiered regions in order to reach its final boss, located at the epicentre of the island’s toxic smog. The catch? If your squad goes down, you lose all of your progress. That progress is mainly tied to your combat rating, a number that goes up the more killing and map icon clearing you do, and it's therefore up to you to know when to call it quits on a certain run and extract from the map within a time limit.
For each level you go up, you’ll get a skill point to plug into any of two given options. These can range from armor plates automatically regenerating when you get kills to overall movement speed or rate of fire increases. The idea is to keep building up your character until you’ve reached the minimum recommended level of 55 and shut down the toxic threat sweeping across Avalon. The progression feels genuine, too, with my character resembling a super soldier at higher ranks, thanks to the sheer amount of speed I harnessed and the damage I could absorb.
In theory, I like this idea and think there are the bones of an exciting mode here — something that could capture the magic the likes of Helldivers 2 has done in recent times — but as is, it unfortunately gets a little tired a little too soon. Objectives are almost all exclusively "go to this place and clear out the enemies there," which I understand is part of the fundamentals when it comes to shooters, but I would’ve appreciated a little more variety and something that mirrored the minor puzzle-solving sections of the main campaign, or at least clever uses of the gadgetry it introduces. The enemy AI that walks Avalon’s streets is also dumb as bricks and pops out of cover freely, making each encounter a simple affair when you put enough distance between you and them.
Yes, zooming around on grapple hooks and transitioning into wing suit gliding mid-fall is still incredibly satisfying, as is plotting out methods of attack in a four-player squad, but all semblance of interesting level or mission design is traded in upon entry here for a few hours of relatively mindless shooting in order to watch some numbers tick up. In some ways, it sits somewhere between the campaign missions and Zombies in its design, but frustratingly borrows the least interesting aspects of both, neglecting the mission structure and mystery-solving that each mode thrives on. It results in a reasonably enjoyable, but not essential, second serving to the campaign. And don’t worry, if the endgame doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, or even sounds a little daunting (the ferocity of its bullet sponge hordes can get overwhelming in its latter stages, especially when heading in solo), the story does wrap up satisfyingly enough beforehand for it not to feel like you’re missing out on an ending completely.
It’s a story nowhere near as accomplished as last year’s effort, though. Effectively a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 that also ties into the events of Black Ops 6, presumed knowledge and the speed at which its setup is told can be a little disorientating, especially if you aren’t familiar with its 2012 predecessor. The themes are personal this time around, with David "Section" Mason, recast here as Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia, placed centre stage as he battles with his past – namely the loss of his father, Alex. There are some fun revelations along the way, as well as treats for long-term fans of the Black Ops series, but as someone who has never held those characters in as high regard as their Modern Warfare counterparts, the pulling of the heartstrings didn’t quite work for me.
It also means that the rest of the Spectre One squad doesn’t really get plot points of their own aside from flashes of resurfacing trauma, relegating them very much to support characters in David’s world, as Michael Rooker’s Harper in particular is given some truly dumb lines to scream as loud as he can. That being said, if you are someone who has always preferred the adventures of Woods, Mason, Adler, and co, I’m sure you’ll have a great time here. It does mean, though, that this revisiting of the past, combined with a thick layer of exposition, can make the early hours of the story relatively impenetrable to newcomers, so I’d bear that in mind if you’re coming in fresh. I’d really recommend a thorough recap of the Black Ops timeline to all if you wish to get the most out of it.
]]>Looking for additional SkyBux to customize and upgrade your airline? This article has you covered! Here you can find a list of all currently active Cabin Crew Simulator codes. Redeem them to boost your SkyBux and spend them on in-flight meals, travel to different destinations, and new aircraft in Roblox.
Here are the currently active Cabin Crew Simulator codes for November 2025 and the rewards you'll get for redeeming them:
The following codes can no longer be redeemed as of November 2025:
To redeem Cabin Crew Simulator codes, you'll need to follow these steps:
When a Cabin Crew Simulator isn't working, it's usually for two reasons. Either the code has expired of it's a typo. When it's a typo, it will say "Invalid Code" when you press enter. To avoid typos being an issue, we'd recommend copying the codes directly from this article, then pasting them into the codes box in Cabin Crew Simulator. If a code is no longer redeemable, it will say "Expired" when you hit enter.
We'll keep this article updated each day, but if you want to get Cabin Crew Simulator codes as soon as they drop, you'll want to follow @CabinCrewRBLX on X. There is also a Discord channel for Cruising Studios, where codes are posted in the Announcements channel.
The aim of Cabin Crew Simulator is to create your own successful airline and aircraft. You'll be thrown into the role of Cabin Crew, who is responsible for making sure passengers enjoy their flights and arrive safely at their destinations.
You'll need to perform various tasks during flights, from boarding passengers to serving them drinks and snacks, all of which will reward you with SkyBux. The in-game currency will allow you to purchase bigger airplanes, unlock new destinations, upgrade your uniform, and more.
Lauren Harper is a freelance writer and editor who has covered news, reviews, and features for over a decade in various industries. She has contributed to guides at IGN for games including Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield, Pikmin 4, and more. With an MA in Victorian Gothic History and Culture, she loves anything that falls under that category. She's also a huge fan of point-and-click adventures, horror games and films. You can talk to her about your favourites over at @prettyheartache.bsky.social .
]]>Looking to dominate the court with Basketball: Zero codes? Well, you're in luck! We've searched for all active working codes for the Roblox experience, so you don't have to. Redeem these for a range of bonuses that include Lucky Spins and cash, helping you swish your way to victory.
Below, you'll find a list of all the currently active Basketball: Zero codes we've found as of this month:
Time's up on these codes, unfortunately. As of this month, the following codes no longer work:
Typically, when a code stops working, it's just because it's expired. However, plenty of codes for Roblox experiences are also case-sensitive. So, it might be that you've typed it incorrectly. Whether a code has been entered incorrectly in Basketball: Zero, or it's expired, you'll see a pop-up saying "code doesn't exist."
To avoid using an incorrect code, we'd recommend copying them directly from this article and pasting them into the code box. We test them all before we add them to the article, so you can be certain that if it's on here, it's a valid code. Just be sure to check you haven't added a sneaky extra space in there when copying it over.
We check for codes on a daily basis, so if there's a new code, you'll be able to find it in this article. If you want to search for them yourself, however, you can head over to the Basketball: Zero Discord server.
It's no surprise that in Basketball Zero, you'll be playing... basketball. The fast-paced 5v5 game will see you dribbling the ball across the court to face opponents and try to score as many points as possible. By unlocking new styles and zones, you'll earn a range of atheles and bonuses that will give you special advantages. The Flash, for example, has excellent speed and agility, while the Star athelete can leap like no other. Redeeming the codes above will give you chances at Lucky Spins, which unlock the Styles and Zones, while the cash will enable you to unlock emotes and goal effects, to really celebrate the wins.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
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