Latest news with #CitizenSleeper
Metro
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
10 incredible new tabletop games for you to play in summer 2025
GameCentral looks at the most exciting new summer tabletop releases, including adaptations of Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, and Citizen Sleeper The tabletop games industry has become an unlikely victim of Trump's tariff trade war. Just after it was recovering from Covid supply chain issues it now sees itself hit with manufacturing issues and an uncertain future. It's so bad that board game developer CMON has already shut up shop and Stonemaier, famous for the hugely successful Wingspan, is suing the Trump administration. Meanwhile Cephalofair, developer of fan favourite Gloomhaven, can't even get their product on to the shelves, as it's stuck in China. While I don't expect any empty shelves at the UK Games Expo this month, there's definitely panic in the air. Although one company that doesn't seem to be too concerned is Games Workshop, who have always manufactured most of their products in the UK – although accessories and terrain for your favourite Warhammer army might become harder to find in the future. After everyone got into it during lockdown, the tabletop industry was riding a huge boom, with recent industry projections of the market doubling to around £20 billion by 2030. But US tariffs have left the industry reeling and could see the price for tabletop games around the world rise significantly. Despite the doom and gloom there's plenty of exciting new products already out this year and many more on the way from massive brands such as Pokémon and Disney, as well as new Kickstarters that you can print yourself, thereby completely bypassing any manufacturing issues. There's also never been a better time to support your local board game shop or Dungeons & Dragons club, as their overheads rise, so here's a selection of games you might find on their shelves right now and those coming soon, that I'm excited to play during the summer break. Square Enix's iconic Final Fantasy franchise is stepping onto the cardboard battlefield with Magic: The Gathering, and the result is as gloriously nostalgic as it is mechanically exciting. The Universes Beyond initiative brings beloved characters, summons, and settings into Magic's gameplay, with Cloud Strife leading the charge. The Final Fantasy Starter Kit offers two pre-constructed 60 card decks, packed with flavour and function and perfect for newcomers attracted by the sight of a Chocobo or Moogle. Each deck includes five rares, a foil mythic legendary, deck boxes, and digital codes for Magic: The Gathering Arena. But the real draw? The cards themselves. They are stunning . Cloud channels Final Fantasy 7's environmental and emotional themes, with equipment-focused synergies that feel spot-on. Stiltzkin the Moogle is a flavourful support piece for donation strategies and the terrifying Tonberry arrives with Deathtouch and First Strike, which is fitting for a creature that's haunted players for decades. With gorgeous full art treatments by amazing artists such as Takahashi Kazuya and Yoshitaka Amano, underpinned by clever mechanical call backs, this crossover is more than fan service, it's a lovingly crafted bridge between two gaming giants that's bound to fly of the shelves. £15.99 on Amazon – releases June 13 There's a possible future where Games Workshop is the final tabletop company left standing, as they dodge tariffs and take down licence infringers like a particularly vicious swarm of tyrranids. You too can act out this future in Kill Team: Typhon, which delivers the chaos of Warhammer 40,000 in a claustrophobic, subterranean brawl between flesh-rending Tyranid Raveners and a desperate Adeptus Mechanicus Battleclade. The latest Kill Team box looks stunning and turns up the tension with asymmetric forces: a lean, elite brood of Raveners – deadly melee predators that can tunnel through terrain – versus a jury-rigged Mechanicus strike team, built from repurposed servitors and guided by a technoarchaeologist scouring ancient relics. But this isn't Helldivers 2. The Raveners can be customised into deadly variants like the Tremorscythe and Felltalon, each armed with bio-engineered weapons designed for close-quarters carnage. On the other side, the Mechanicus bring massed, lobotomised firepower: breachers, gunners, medics, and overseers to allow for some tactical coordination. Also included are Hormagaunts, the swarming Tyrranids shock troops and new Tyranid-infested terrain – always the standout feature of these kill team boxes, in my opinion, and perfect for narrative or larger 40K battles. Typhon embraces Kill Team's strength: cinematic asymmetry and high stakes. Price TBA – releases June This red and black box is going for gangbusters on eBay, before it's even supposed to be out. The Scarlet & Violet Destined Rivals set reintroduces the beloved Trainer's Pokémon mechanic, but now with a twist where players can align with iconic duos like Arven's Mabosstiff and Ho-Oh ex or Cynthia and Garchomp ex. Or fall in with Team Rocket under Giovanni's command, fielding heavy hitters like Mewtwo ex. It's a rich throwback to the Gym Heroes era, with cards that spotlight specific trainer and pokémon bonds, each emblazoned with the trainer's name. The expansion includes 83 cards branded under Team Rocket, 17 new Pokémon ex cards (10 of which are Trainer's Pokémon ex), and a trove of high rarity collectibles: 23 illustration rares, 11 special illustration rares, and six hyper rare gold-etched cards. But the pre-launch hasn't been all Sunflora and Jigglypuffs. Since its full reveal on March 24, pre-orders have sparked a frenzy amongst scalpers, with sellouts and early store hiccups are already marring the rollout. Still, between the nostalgia bait and villainous charm, Destined Rivals is shaping up to be one of 2025's hottest trading card releases. RRP £54.99 – releases May 30 One game I just can't put back on the shelf at the moment is Finspan; who'd of thought fish could be so much fun? Since Wingspan took flight in 2019, it's become a modern classic: part art piece, part engine builder, and a benchmark for gateway games. Finspan, the third entry in the series, swaps feathers for fins, inviting players to explore marine ecosystems across oceanic zones in a beautifully illustrated, medium-lightweight game that last about 45 minutes. Mechanically, Finspan is more accessible than Wingspan, thanks to forgiving resource generation and a gentler deck structure. Strategic depth is still there, whether you chase high value fish, go wide with schools, or balance both. It's more of a solo puzzle, and less about blocking opponents, which might suit more casual groups. Replayability is strong, and with one to five player support it scales well. The art is stunning, and the fish facts make you feel like a would-be marine biologist. But I missed the funny components (no birdhouse dice tower), so this is missing some of that Wingspan magic. Finspan is a fantastic entry point to the series and an accessible and fun addition to the franchise. It's not as perfect as Wingspan, but it swims confidently in its own current. Could we see whale and crustacean expansions? I hope so. RRP £41.99 – available now While you might have missed the Star Wars Celebration in Japan last month, and be bereft over the end of Andor Season 2, don't worry – there are plenty of alternatives for Star Wars fandom. Fantasy Flight Games is revving its hyperdrive with Jump To Lightspeed, the fourth set for trading card game Star Wars Unlimited. A dramatic shift from previous ground-focused releases, this set propels players into orbit, with an emphasis on space combat and a host of gameplay refinements. Headlining the release are two new Spotlight Decks, each featuring a classic rivalry, such as Han Solo vs. Boba Fett. These 50-card preconstructed decks introduce Pilots, a brand-new card type that changes how space units operate. Pilots can be deployed to enhance ships with improved health and damage dealing abilities, offering fresh tactical depth. The set also debuts the Piloting keyword, a hyperspace mechanic, and five special rarity cards per deck, including one new Leader per Spotlight release. It's a sleek continuation of Unlimited's mission, with deep strategy wrapped in Star Wars flair. Fantasy Flight isn't just releasing a new set; they're effectively entering year two of the game with a soft reboot, that smartly rebalances and refreshes. For new and returning players, the standalone Spotlight Decks offer a refined on-ramp into the meta, while the stellar art and fan favourite make this one of the best sci-fi trading card games around. RRP: £34.99 – available now I was gutted I didn't manage to nab some physical Cycles of the Eye Data-Cloud dice from Lost in Cult, before they sold out, so I was ecstatic to see the shadow drop of Citizen Sleeper: Spindlejack, especially as it's completely free. It's a lean, solo tabletop role-player set in the neon-drenched corridors of the Far Spindle, part of the Citizen Sleeper universe. Released on May 5th (aka Citizen Sleeper Day), it's a print-and-play experience that trades dense narrative for kinetic delivery runs and tactical movement through a crumbling space station. Inspired by Kadet, the courier from Citizen Sleeper 2, Spindlejack casts you as one of the eponymous daredevils: airbike mounted messengers who dodge cargo haulers and urban decay to deliver sensitive payloads in a haunted, half-dead network. The draw? Not just the cryo or reputation, but the thrill, the competition, and the culture. Using your 10 six-sided dice, a pencil, and some printed sheets you'll chart courses across randomly generated intersections, upgrade your bike, and edge toward Spindlejack legend status. Designed by Gareth Damian Martin, with stylish, gritty art from Guillaume Singelin, this is a tight, systems-focused dive into a beloved sci-fi setting. No campaign scheduling. No group required. Just you, your dice, and the Spindle's rusted arteries. For fans of Citizen Sleeper or those craving a focused, atmospheric solo experience, Spindlejack is a no-brainer. DIY or DIE. Available now The internet has been on fire with the announcement that forthcoming Lorcana sets are to include Darkwing Duck and The Goofy Movie cast, emphasising that Disney Lorcana has become something of a juggernaut since its 2023 debut, captivating collectors and competitive players with a blend of nostalgic charm and evolving mechanics – judging scandals aside. During the Next Chapter of Lorcana livestream earlier this month, Ravensburger dropped major news. The autumn 2025 set, Fabled, will introduce Lorcana's first ever set rotation, a sign the game is maturing into a competitive force. To support this shift, Fabled will include reprints from earlier sets, while also debuting two new rarity levels: epic and the ultra-rare Iconic. Reign Of Jafar, the game's eighth set, sees Jafar rise as the new central villain, corrupting Archazia's Island and bringing a darker twist to the narrative. Familiar faces like Mulan, Stitch, Rapunzel, and Bruno return, alongside new cards and accessories, including updated sleeves and deck boxes featuring classic Enchanted artwork. The new Illumineer's Quest: Palace Heist PvE box expands on the beloved Deep Trouble, letting players face Jafar co-op style. Expect pre-built decks (Amethyst Amber and Ruby Steel), booster boxes, and enough lore-packed cardboard to fuel your summer break. £16.99 starter pack – releases May 30 While Finspan might be missing a dice tower, Fate Of The Fellowship more than makes up for that with a dice tower Barad-dûr. This is a one to five player co-op strategy game that builds on the Pandemic System but adds enough fresh features to feel distinct, deeper, and more precious than ever. Players take on the roles of Fellowship members and allies, racing to protect havens from surging shadow troops and helping Frodo sneak past the Nazgûl en route to Mount Doom. Unlike previous Pandemic adaptations, Fate Of The Fellowship leans hard into narrative mechanics. You'll juggle four resources – stealth, valour, resistance, and friendship – across a sprawling map as you battle despair and shifting objectives. Each player commands two characters, with asymmetric abilities and layered decisions every turn. With 24 rotating objectives, a constant threat from the Eye of Sauron, and a cleverly tuned solo mode, designer Matt Leacock has crafted his richest Pandemic variant yet. I've seen plenty of tabletop gamers saying this will be their must-play at UK Games Expo. RRP £69.99 – releases June 27 Animus brings the Assassin's Creed universe to the tabletop in a wholly fresh, narrative-driven experience. Up to four players select historical eras, each tied to a legendary assassin like Ezio or Eivor, resulting in distinct, asymmetric playstyles, unique objectives, and specialised mechanics. Rather than a miniatures skirmish, this is a competitive, timeline-jumping adventure where players dive into ancestral memories via the titular Animus. Strategic stealth and precision matter: while one player might rush to the end, victory favours those who stay synchronised with their ancestor's memory by completing tasks efficiently and, of course, stealthily. While there's still not much information about this game at the moment, Animus looks to employ modular and evolving dynamics driven by interactive card play. Players can impact each other's timelines, which will hopefully keep the experience reactive and organic. With deep lore integration, and Ubisoft's full support, this could the most ambitious Assassin's Creed tabletop title yet. Crowdfunding starts summer 2025 Days of Wonder, the studio behind tabletop classic Ticket To Ride, has unveiled its next major release, with Star Wars: Battle Of Hoth. Designed for two to four players, aged 8 and up, this fast-paced board game runs around 30 minutes per session and leans on the accessible, card-driven Commands & Colors system. More Trending Players will face off as Imperial or Rebel forces across 17 scenario-driven missions, with options to escalate into campaign mode. Leader cards introduce familiar names like Vader, Luke, Leia, and Han to influence the tide of battle. Although it should be easy to learn, concerns linger about the scope of the battlefield. A cramped board could reduce tactical play to simple dice duels, something fans of strategic depth may find frustrating. Questions also remain about unit range and movement dynamics. Still, Battle Of Hoth promises cinematic nostalgia and the potential for layered tactics, and all for a very reasonable price. RRP: £49.99 – crowdfunding starts summer 2025 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: You can binge all 12 episodes of sci-fi thriller fans called a 'masterpiece' MORE: Miley Cyrus' dad Billy Ray breaks silence on divorce that sparked huge family feud MORE: Woman quit over results of 'which Star Wars character are you?' personality quiz
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The latest Humble Bundle brings together six must-play RPGs
It's been a while since Engadget has highlighted a Humble Bundle, but the latest one is just too good to ignore. The Dice and Destiny collection brings together six incredible RPGs in support of CARE, an NGO that fights hunger and poverty globally. For about $15, you get Broken Roads, Citizen Sleeper, Disco Elysium, Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Roadwarden and a coupon for 15 percent off of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. Having played most of the games in this bundle, I can safely say they're all well-worth your time, but a few stand out. Disco Elysium needs no introduction. It was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2019, and if you haven't played it yet, this is great way to get Disco Elysium for cheap. But it's not my favorite game in the collection. That distinction is shared by Citizen Sleeper and Roadwarden. In tone, they're very different games. Citizen Sleeper is set in a dystopian far future, while Roadwarden is a dark fantasy RPG that fans of The Witcher series will love. However, both feature incredible writing, music and art, and if you love games where your decisions matter, few will scratch that itch like Citizen Sleeper and Roadwarden.
New York Times
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Intergalactic Shantytowns Where Dice Dictate Your Future
The dice roll is the fundamental engine of numerous games. In a board game, it might determine what type of resources you receive or how far you can move. In tabletop role-playing games, it might determine whether an action is successful. When you swing your sword at an ogre, does it land a fatal blow? Or does your blade accidentally glance off a nearby statue and clatter uselessly to the ground? The dice decide. Although video games often use similar systems to decide the outcome of a player's actions, the dice roll itself — the machinery of chance — is typically concealed. 'The idea with video games is they're supposed to be this warm bath of immersion that you disappear into,' said Gareth Damian Martin, whose new game Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector subverts convention by placing the dice center stage. The dice in Citizen Sleeper 2, which releases for PCs and consoles on Friday, can be spent on actions within a cyberpunk future where mercenaries, scavengers and outcasts eke out a hardscrabble living on the margins of a galaxy ruled by rival corporations. The higher the number of an assigned die, the greater the chance that the player will successfully work shifts in an intergalactic kelp bar, sell scrap engine components down at the shipyards or overthrow a corporation as part of a labor revolution. 'The process of abstracting things to dice gives an incredible flexibility to storytelling,' said Damian Martin, who uses they/them pronouns. 'The game inherently supports you and creates drama from any situation.' Damian Martin feeling that it was time for role-playing games to evolve, realized that pulling back the curtain and revealing how the games work would not break the immersion. 'Video games have always had this slightly impoverished relationship with Dungeons & Dragons,' they said, 'which means we've been recreating the same game system in R.P.G.s for decades.' This system remains popular: Baldur's Gate 3, which also centers dice rolls and recreates Dungeons & Dragons rather faithfully, is one of the most lauded video games of recent years. Damian Martin did not want to bring a fantasy theme or a complex rule book from the tabletop world to video games but rather the core idea that rules and mechanics can be an expressive tool for creating narrative and emotion. Citizen Sleeper 2 casts the player as an emulated consciousness inside a synthetic body, created for the purposes of indentured labor. The game opens with you breaking free from the clutches of an icy gang boss and embarking upon a life on the run across the star system. If your dice roll fails, you are not confronted with a 'Game Over' screen or forced to start again. Instead, your story branches off in a different direction, the narrator rolling with the punch and recalibrating your course. 'Citizen Sleeper has the bravery to make things not work out sometimes,' said Cameron Kunzelman, a games academic and critic. While similar in format to the first Citizen Sleeper, a surprise success that was released in 2022, the sequel adds more complex gameplay mechanics. There are dice that accumulate stress and can break based on narrative events, as well as new contract missions — high-stakes operations that can (and often do) go spectacularly wrong. Yet the game retains the engaging sci-fi storytelling, stylish prose and complex themes of the original. It asks the player to make choices that are not simple questions of good and evil: Who do you trust? Whose needs take priority? Which sacrifice can you live with? Despite the brutal demands of simply surviving in these intergalactic shantytowns, players can still find salvation in community and offer small gestures of kindness to characters they meet along the way. Beyond the flexible rules of tabletop role-playing games, Damian Martin is inspired by the games's potential for collaborative storytelling. A group of people can build a narrative together, they said, while using dice to add surprise and provocation 'like an improv comedian asking the crowd for suggestions.' Damian Martin said that the market scenes were always the part of 'Star Wars' that interested them most, and that they would spend hours wondering who those street-food vendors were, living on far-flung planets. 'In a tabletop game, you can tell a story with friends where all the characters are stall owners in a 'Star Wars' market,' they said. 'You can have Darth Vader turn up as a customer; you could even poison him and that's how he dies. You don't have to wait for permission to do this stuff.' Because Citizen Sleeper 2 is a video game written by Damian Martin alone, it cannot invite that degree of narrative collaboration. The video game after that will be a new intellectual property, but Damian Martin said they hoped to turn the entire Citizen Sleeper franchise into a tabletop R.P.G. eventually, allowing the game's fans to tell their own stories within the universe. 'I've finished my monologue,' Damian Martin said. 'Now you can say something.'
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
What to stream: The Weeknd album, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, ‘SNL' music and ‘Babygirl'
Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell starring in the wedding comedy 'You're Cordially Invited' and The Weeknd's album 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists: Director Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' with Tom Hanks, Sterling K. Brown returns to TV as a Secret Service agent and there's a sequel to 'Citizen Sleeper,' the surprise gaming hit of 2022. NEW MOVIES TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 – Rival weddings collide in 'You're Cordially Invited,' a comedy about double-booked destination nuptials starring Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. The film, streaming Jan. 30 on Prime Video, unites a pair of stars from different realms of comedy in Witherspoon, who's planning a wedding for her sister (Meredith Hagner), and Ferrell, whose daughter (Geraldine Viswanathan) is getting married. In the Nicholas Stoller-directed movie, the two families share a Georgia island wedding venue. — Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in Halina Reijn's 'Babygirl' (on premium video-on-demand beginning Tuesday), a kinky and darkly comic erotic thriller from A24. Kidman stars as a married Manhattan chief executive who falls under the intense sway of a new intern (Dickinson), leading to some memorable sex games of manipulation and control. In my review, I praised 'Babygirl' as 'a sometimes campy, frequently entertaining modern update to the erotically charged movies of the 1990s, like 'Basic Instinct' and '9 ½ Weeks.'' — Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' has already lived many lives since opening in theaters last October. It was roundly dismissed by critics at release, only to continue to pick up defenders as the year came to a close. 'Here' gets a second chance Thursday on Netflix. The film, starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, fixes the camera, for seemingly one long take, on one plot of land, from the time of dinosaurs up until modern day. In his review, AP's Mark Kennedy wrote, 'It's not so strange after a while — so bursting with life is each shot and vignette — but there's a gnawing feeling that we're in some sort of film experiment, like testing an audience on how long they'll watch old security camera footage.' — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle NEW MUSIC TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 — Live from your Peacock subscription, it's Saturday night! On Tuesday — and premiering the day before at 8 p.m. ET on NBC — is the release of a new 'Saturday Night Live' special, 'Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.' The three-hour program, directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winner Questlove and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez, will spotlight memorable 'SNL' music performances across the the show's incredible run. It will feature sketches, performances and over 50 interview subjects, including Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl DMC McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake. — It is the end of an era, and no doubt, one heck of a closer. On Friday, Jan. 31, The Weeknd will release the final album in his record-breaking trilogy that began with 2020's 'After Hours' and 2022's 'Dawn FM.' It reaches its coda with 'Hurry Up Tomorrow.' So, what can listeners expect from one of the biggest names in pop — and the only artist to have 25 songs with 1 billion streams on Spotify? The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, is keeping the details close to his chest. But if this collection of songs comes close to something like 'Blinding Lights,' well, expect them to stick around for a while. — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman NEW SHOWS TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 — Since 'This Is Us' aired its series finale in 2022, Sterling K. Brown has had voice roles in animated shows and has concentrated on film work. He is back on TV with a new series called 'Paradise' also created by Dan Fogelman. Brown, also an executive producer, plays a Secret Service agent for the U.S. President (James Marsden) and discovers a murder that leads to shocking revelations. The first three episodes will debut on Hulu on Tuesday (with a linear rollout of the premiere on Hulu and FX). It will then drop weekly on the streaming service. — Noah Centineo's 'The Recruit' returns to Netflix with a second season after a long delay due in part to the Hollywood strikes. The actor plays a lawyer with a new job at the CIA who quickly finds himself embroiled in international politics. The show is suspenseful, compelling and funny. Centineo still has the charisma that charmed viewers of the 'To All the Boys' movies and it carries over for an older demo with this series. 'The Recruit' season two premieres Thursday on Netflix. — The true crime docuseries 'Scamanda' unravels the web of lies of Amanda Riley, a woman who faked having cancer and collected sympathy, money and gifts while she did it. Journalist Charlie Webster first told Riley's story in a podcast of the same name and has teamed up with ABC News to bring it to TV. The series begins airing Thursday on ABC and also streams on Hulu next day. Alicia Rancilio — Citizen Sleeper, a haunting survival adventure set aboard a decrepit space station, became a surprise hit in 2022 by mixing clever gameplay with a caustic take on very-late-stage capitalism. Designer Gareth Damian Martin is now expanding on that world with Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. Once again, you're an android on the run from the corporation that built you, but now you have a rickety spaceship at your command. That gives you the freedom to bounce around the asteroids of the Starward Belt, where you can search for replacement parts, recruit crew members and take on high-risk contracts — as long as you can keep your own mechanical body from glitching out. Liftoff begins Friday, Jan. 31, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
The Independent
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
What to stream: The Weeknd album, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, 'SNL' music and 'Babygirl'
Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell starring in the wedding comedy 'You're Cordially Invited' and The Weeknd 's album 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists: Director Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' with Tom Hanks, Sterling K. Brown returns to TV as a Secret Service agent and there's a sequel to 'Citizen Sleeper,' the surprise gaming hit of 2022. NEW MOVIES TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 – Rival weddings collide in 'You're Cordially Invited,' a comedy about double-booked destination nuptials starring Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. The film, streaming Jan. 30 on Prime Video, unites a pair of stars from different realms of comedy in Witherspoon, who's planning a wedding for her sister (Meredith Hagner), and Ferrell, whose daughter (Geraldine Viswanathan) is getting married. In the Nicholas Stoller-directed movie, the two families share a Georgia island wedding venue. — Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in Halina Reijn's 'Babygirl' (on premium video-on-demand beginning Tuesday), a kinky and darkly comic erotic thriller from A24. Kidman stars as a married Manhattan chief executive who falls under the intense sway of a new intern (Dickinson), leading to some memorable sex games of manipulation and control. In my review, I praised 'Babygirl' as 'a sometimes campy, frequently entertaining modern update to the erotically charged movies of the 1990s, like 'Basic Instinct' and '9 ½ Weeks.'' — Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' has already lived many lives since opening in theaters last October. It was roundly dismissed by critics at release, only to continue to pick up defenders as the year came to a close. 'Here' gets a second chance Thursday on Netflix. The film, starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, fixes the camera, for seemingly one long take, on one plot of land, from the time of dinosaurs up until modern day. In his review, AP's Mark Kennedy wrote, 'It's not so strange after a while — so bursting with life is each shot and vignette — but there's a gnawing feeling that we're in some sort of film experiment, like testing an audience on how long they'll watch old security camera footage.' — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle NEW MUSIC TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 — Live from your Peacock subscription, it's Saturday night! On Tuesday — and premiering the day before at 8 p.m. ET on NBC — is the release of a new 'Saturday Night Live' special, 'Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.' The three-hour program, directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winner Questlove and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez, will spotlight memorable 'SNL' music performances across the the show's incredible run. It will feature sketches, performances and over 50 interview subjects, including Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl DMC McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake. — It is the end of an era, and no doubt, one heck of a closer. On Friday, Jan. 31, The Weeknd will release the final album in his record-breaking trilogy that began with 2020's 'After Hours' and 2022's 'Dawn FM.' It reaches its coda with 'Hurry Up Tomorrow.' So, what can listeners expect from one of the biggest names in pop — and the only artist to have 25 songs with 1 billion streams on Spotify? The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, is keeping the details close to his chest. But if this collection of songs comes close to something like 'Blinding Lights,' well, expect them to stick around for a while. — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman NEW SHOWS TO STREAM JAN. 27-FEB. 2 — Since 'This Is Us' aired its series finale in 2022, Sterling K. Brown has had voice roles in animated shows and has concentrated on film work. He is back on TV with a new series called 'Paradise' also created by Dan Fogelman. Brown, also an executive producer, plays a Secret Service agent for the U.S. President (James Marsden) and discovers a murder that leads to shocking revelations. The first three episodes will debut on Hulu on Tuesday (with a linear rollout of the premiere on Hulu and FX). It will then drop weekly on the streaming service. — Noah Centineo's 'The Recruit' returns to Netflix with a second season after a long delay due in part to the Hollywood strikes. The actor plays a lawyer with a new job at the CIA who quickly finds himself embroiled in international politics. The show is suspenseful, compelling and funny. Centineo still has the charisma that charmed viewers of the 'To All the Boys' movies and it carries over for an older demo with this series. 'The Recruit' season two premieres Thursday on Netflix. — The true crime docuseries 'Scamanda' unravels the web of lies of Amanda Riley, a woman who faked having cancer and collected sympathy, money and gifts while she did it. Journalist Charlie Webster first told Riley's story in a podcast of the same name and has teamed up with ABC News to bring it to TV. The series begins airing Thursday on ABC and also streams on Hulu next day. — Citizen Sleeper, a haunting survival adventure set aboard a decrepit space station, became a surprise hit in 2022 by mixing clever gameplay with a caustic take on very-late-stage capitalism. Designer Gareth Damian Martin is now expanding on that world with Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. Once again, you're an android on the run from the corporation that built you, but now you have a rickety spaceship at your command. That gives you the freedom to bounce around the asteroids of the Starward Belt, where you can search for replacement parts, recruit crew members and take on high-risk contracts — as long as you can keep your own mechanical body from glitching out. Liftoff begins Friday, Jan. 31, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
