What If…? Season 1, Episode 5 – Review

Spoilers follow for Episode 5 of Marvel’s What If…? For more, see our review of the previous episode of What If.

When you stream Marvel’s What If…? on Disney+’s website, you’ll notice episodes have titles like “What If… Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?” and “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” This week’s is simply: “What If… Zombies!?” Sure, it’s a jokey take on the naming convention the series has been using, but it’s also indicative of how much thought went into selling a zombie apocalypse that works in the MCU. Up to this point, What If has done pretty well at making each episode’s premise feel like a logical divergence from established history. But despite some entertaining action, Episode 5 shambles along, aimless and hungry for purpose as… as a… it’ll come to me…

Episode 5’s deficiencies come into clear focus when compared to last week’s best-yet episode. It was full of supernatural spectacle, but everything that happened was rooted in Doctor Strange’s struggle with his grief, so it was emotionally engaging. On the other hand, we’ve got this episode, which spends nearly all its time focused on moving the surviving heroes from zombie encounter to zombie encounter as they try to develop a cure. Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) explains the zombie outbreak started after Hank Pym’s trip to the Quantum Realm, where only Hope’s mother Janet Van Dyne returned. Janet was afflicted with a “quantum virus” which… turns everyone into zombies. Marvel’s already joked about sticking “quantum” in front of concepts that they don’t want to bother explaining in Ant-Man and The Wasp (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania coming soon), and we’re far enough past the point of diminishing returns that unexplained “quantum” stuff just feels like lazy writing. It often feels like What If can’t decide whether or not to take the zombie apocalypse seriously or play it for laughs, and Episode 5 suffers from that lack of clarity.

The tonal inconsistency ends up affecting how the whole episode unfolds, resulting in questionable character choices. After What If spent a full minute of screentime on a Peter Parker vlog explaining the absolute basic rules of surviving against the walking dead (bites infect, headshots kill, they can smell you), it was enormously frustrating to have Bucky (Sebastian Stan) explore a pitch-black underground military installation alone, no questions asked. Letting someone go off on their own just to keep the plot moving felt like a huge cop out. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) continuing to exclaim “blam, blam, blam” as he’s dragged to his death was a similarly distracting case of the episode ignoring its own reality in favor of fitting in just one more quip. The MCU: where the only thing more infectious than quantum zombie bites are snarky Starkian comments undermining anything serious going on.

The episode’s best moments come during a tense confrontation with Vision (Paul Bettany) at Camp Lehigh. It’s here that we get a sense of what a more focused, character-driven story could’ve delivered, as the usually-benevolent android has become corrupted by the zombie outbreak in his own way. His desire to cure the infected Wanda and his total disregard for the human cost of success was an interesting seed of an idea, but What If moves past it quickly in favor of letting Zombie Wanda’s chaos magic take center stage. What If’s action scenes continue to be its saving grace, and Episode 5 is no different… as long as you don’t think too hard about the zombified heroes still using their powers. There’s no word or phrase you could drop “quantum” in front of that’ll stop me from asking why a zombie Tony Stark is still able to pilot the most advanced flight suit on Earth, or how Doctor Strange, Wong, and Wanda can focus on casting spells and eating brains at the same time. All of the fights and action-heavy scenes are brutal, well-choreographed, and inventive, but only up to the point you’re willing to suspend the substantial amount of disbelief you’ll need to keep from asking questions deeper than “What If… Zombies!?”

Ironically enough, for having spent much of the season disappointed in it, the voice acting in Episode 5 is pretty good. Zombie-slaying veteran Danai Gurira is the obvious MVP as Okoye, whose dry wit and matter-of-fact attitude is a perfect fit for the dire circumstances. Any more time spent with the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa is welcome and, though unintentionally prescient, his proclamation that “death is not the end” was more poignant than anything that happened before or after. It was also a real surprise to have David Dastmalchian’s Kurt (Scott Lang’s hacker buddy) so embedded in the story, providing a lot of laughs as the obvious odd man out. It’s a reminder that What If has a lot of untapped potential in the MCU’s minor, oft-forgotten characters, and hopefully we continue to see more familiar faces dropping in. I’ll keep holding my breath for a Justin Hammer/Flashdance mashup.

WWE’s New Day Must Escape The Undertaker In Netflix’s Interactive Halloween Special

Escape The Undertaker, an interactive Halloween special starring WWE’s New Day and The Undertaker, is coming to Netflix on October 5.

According to Netflix, viewers will get to decide the fate of New Day’s Big E, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston as they attempt to survive the wrath of The Undertaker at his mansion, which has been transformed into an extreme haunted house, “packed to the brim with supernatural challenges” to usher in the spooky season.

The special promises to deliver some trick or treats… or should we say beats, just in time for Halloween. Netflix released some first-look images for Escape The Undertaker, which continues the streaming service’s ongoing partnership with WWE. Check out the photos below for an early look at Taker’s capers:

The Undertaker, aka Mark Calaway, officially announced his retirement from WWE last year. “For 30 long years, I’ve made that slow walk to this ring and have laid people to rest time and time again,” he told spectators at the WWE Survivor Series. “And now my time has come. My time has come to let The Undertaker rest in peace.”

Though he isn’t stepping back into the ring, The Deadman is rising from his grave once more for Netflix’s Halloween special. The WWE legend wrote an ominous note to his fans on Twitter to tease his starring role in the project. “Be careful whose door you knock on… never know who is on the other side!” Taker warned.

Escape The Undertaker will be released on Netflix on October 5 as part of this year’s Netflix and Chills lineup, which features a skele-ton of hair-raising, door-locking, keep-the-lights-on treats for streamers this coming season. Other notable additions include the forthcoming final season of Lucifer, the second season of Locke & Key, and Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Forza Horizon 5 Reveals a Huge Car List, and It’s Not Even Complete

With Forza Horizon 5 just around the corner, Xbox Game Studios and Playground Games have revealed a huge list of cars that players will be able to choose from when setting out across the game’s vast and diverse Mexican landscape. Despite the list already containing several hundred cars, the developer has confirmed that there’s still more to come.

Forza Motorsport’s official website currently lists 426 different vehicles to drive. Playground announced a number of debutants on the list as well as confirming that more cars would be added in due course. The post reads, “stay tuned, because this isn’t the final list for launch date. We’ll be expanding it with even more cars and manufacturers in the weeks leading up to Nov. 9, so be sure to check back regularly for all the latest updates.”

As mentioned, a number of cars will make their Forza debut in the upcoming installment of the series. From the behemoth that is the 2020 Ford Super Duty F-450 DRW Premium to the beautiful 1991 Jaguar Sport XJR-15, the Forza team says that its new additions “are the most diverse they’ve ever been in Forza history.”

From Mercs to McLarens and Audis to Aston Martins, Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t appear to have spared any expense with its selection of included makes and models. As well as the developer’s promise to announce further content in the lead-up to launch, Playground Games has also said that it will be bringing back its Festival Playlist for Forza Horizon 5, meaning that a number of new-to-franchise cars and fan favorites will make their way into the game in the months after its release. You know, if the hundreds of cars available at launch just aren’t quite enough.

Forza Horizon 5 looks to be another step up from the fourth iteration of the franchise. Not only does the game begin by literally dropping you into a volcano (and that’s just one part of the game’s hugely diverse map), it also features a new events lab mode that gives players many of the tools the team at Playground Games had when designing in-game levels.

For more on Forza Horizon 5, make sure to check out this piece where we sat down with the team at Playground Games to ask about their partnership with Mercedes, how they are pushing the game’s engine further than ever and what additions they’ll be adding to the series. Forza Horizon 5 will launch for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One on November 9.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

AtGames Legends Ultimate Racer Will Add Some Turbo To Your Game Room

Following its Legends Ultimate and Legends Pinball machines, AtGames will be getting behind the wheel for the AtGames Legends Ultimate Racer cabinet. The machine will be, like its predecessors, an online-enabled device that includes both pre-installed games as well as support for additional games via a connected PC, meaning you can finally get a Forza cabinet right in your home.

Currently in the prototype phase–an early build is based on an AliExpress machine but this is not the final design–the AtGames Legends Ultimate Racer cabinet features a 32-inch display, optional haptic feedback, stereo sound with support for optional 5.2 surround sound, and an adjustable seat with color-changing LEDs. You can see a short teaser in this video from the Super Game Room Dudes show.

It will come with racing games installed when you purchase, though the list isn’t public yet, and several PC games will be supported if you connect your rig to the Legends Ultimate Racer. These include but are not limited to:

  • Forza Motorsport 7
  • Project Cars 2
  • Dirt Rally 2
  • Need For Speed: Hot PUrsuit
  • My Summer Car
  • F1 2020

The prototype shown in promotional materials is using a 24-inch screen, so the final model will be quite a bit bigger. Additionally, it will support up to three displays in total in case you want to do some upgrades. Because the machine is a work-in-progress project, there isn’t a firm release date or window yet.

“The Legends Ultimate Racer will be built for long-term enjoyment and become another important piece of our growing Legends Arcade Family,” AtGames said in a Facebook post.

Right now, the primary home arcade racing option is Arcade1Up’s Out Run machine, available in both a sit-down and upright design. It appears a Ridge Racer machine is on the way, as well.

Steam Deck Won’t Play All Your Steam Games At Launch, Warns Proton Co-Developer

Valve’s portable gaming device, the Steam Deck, is scheduled to launch later this year. With it comes the prospect of taking your entire Steam library on the go with you, a feature that was seemingly confirmed when the portable platform was first announced. But that might not be the case at launch, with Codeweavers president James B. Ramey asking buyers to check their expectations.

Codeweavers co-developed Proton with Valve. Proton is the layer through which SteamOS is able to run native Windows titles on Linux, which ships with the Steam Deck. As you might expect, there are some cases where games will not work as intended with SteamOS out of the box, with Proton currently supporting around 16,000 games that are listed on Steam. That’s a large number (especially since it was only 27 in 2018), but it’s still not all of the games on Steam, which might end up conflicting with some of your purchases.

Now Playing: Valve’s Steam Deck – First Impressions

The confusion around library-wide compatibility seems to have stemmed from an interview conducted between IGN and Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais. In it, Griffais mentions that the Steam Deck will be able to handle all games currently sold on Steam, something which Ramey interprets as more to do with hardware compatibility than software. Speaking on the Boiling Steam podcast, Ramey warned that there definitely will be some games that won’t work with the Steam Deck at launch.

“I don’t necessarily think he was referencing supporting that game in Proton–I think he was referencing that the device has the horsepower, the video graphics, the RAM, the hard drive space to support any game out there,” Ramey explained.

He does, however, believe that the Steam Deck will further incentivize developers to ensure that their games entirely support Linux natively or play nicely with Proton. Having a device like the Steam Deck will create more demand around compatibility, which will only grow Proton faster than it has already been growing, according to Ramey. Of course you could also sidestep this issue entirely but replacing SteamOS with Windows, with Valve says you will be able to do.

“I do think that because Proton is a living, breathing project; it’s not something that is static in any way, shape, or form,” he concluded. “There is a lot of effort being poured into Proton to support a broader range of games even that is available then currently today. So you’re going to see that when the Steam Deck is released and Proton is put on the Steam Deck that there is going to be a greater number of titles that are supported.”

You can listen to the entire interview over at Boiling Steam’s website, or read through the handy transcript, too. The Steam Deck starts shipping this December, with orders sold out until Q2 2022 already.

Bungie Is Hiring to Turn Destiny Into TV Shows, Movies, and More

Bungie is hiring for a new senior executive who will help to bring Destiny’s narrative from video games across to the world of TV, film, and more.

A career listing on Bungie’s website for a new senior executive development role at the studio says that the successful candidate will “drive projects that extend the Destiny franchise into new categories including TV, films, books, comics, and audio formats.”

Bungie itself doesn’t appear to be hiring for positions to create the new range of Destiny products in-house. Instead, the new executive’s role will be to “identify, select, guide, collaborate, and provide feedback to third parties and partners enabling them to tell additional myths in the Destiny universe that delight our fans while capturing the hearts and minds of new audiences.”

In terms of the expansion, it would seem that Bungie is open to exploring a number of different avenues. As a requirement, the new executive will need to have been credited on a number of films/series with “experience in animation, scripted television development or current programming,” also listed. Bungie also notes that additional credit may be awarded to a suitable candidate with experience in fictional novel and graphic novel publishing.

Although Bungie hasn’t confirmed any details surrounding Destiny’s potential expansion as a television series, the listing seems to suggest that a move toward the format would take the form of an animated series as opposed to a live-action show.

With Destiny already a globally recognized franchise with an incredibly devoted community behind it, some fans may fear that a move to other formats under incorrect supervision could be detrimental to the game’s lore and characters. With this in mind, it seems that Bungie is looking for someone already heavily invested within the Destiny Universe. On top of extensive multimedia experience, Bungie requires applicants to have a passion for the Destiny Universe and says that an ideal candidate will have spent hundreds of hours playing Destiny and exploring its world.

In other related news, Destiny 2 recently launched into its latest Season of the Lost update and announced details surrounding the game’s upcoming Witch Queen expansion, which is due out February 22. As Bungie looks to take Destiny to new mediums, perhaps we’ll see Savathûn and her siblings make their debut elsewhere on other formats in the future.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Andrew Garfield On Spider-Man: No Way Home Rumors — “No Matter What I Say, I’m F**ked”

Andrew Garfield has responded once again to the ongoing rumors and reports that he will appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, saying that is “not something I’m aware I am involved in.”

Speaking to Variety, Garfield said it doesn’t really even matter what he says on the subject because people will believe what they want to believe. “No matter what I say, I’m f**ked,” he said. Garfield acknowledged that he understands why people are excited about the idea of the multiverse bringing together his Spider-Man and Tobey Maguire’s to join Tom Holland.

“I understand why people are freaking out about the concept of that because I’m a fan as well. You can’t help but imagine scenes and moments of, ‘Oh, my God, how f**king cool would it be if they did that?'” he said. “But it’s important for me to say on the record that this is not something I’m aware I am involved in. But I know I’m not going to be able to say anything that will convince anyone that I don’t know what’s happening… It’s either going to be really disappointing for people or it’s going to be really exciting.”

People felt emboldened to believe Garfield and Maguire may be in No Way Home after the film’s first trailer introduced Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus through a rift in the multiverse that Doctor Strange created. Jamie Foxx’s Electro, another Spider-Man character from a different Spider-Man universe, is rumored to appear in No Way Home as well.

Before this, Garfield gave fans some hope that his Spider-Man may appear in No Way Home, saying people should “never say never” about the possibility of it happening. Before that, Garfield said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he hadn’t received a call about appearing in No Way Home yet. That being said, Garfield refused to give a straight answer when asked to reply “yes or no” about if he’s in the movie or not.

In other news, Holland himself recently teased that the first No Way Home trailer is only the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of what to expect. “You have no idea what else is to come. I am so excited to share more with you guys,” Holland said.

No Way Home releases in theaters on December 17. The announcement trailer crushed Avengers: Endgame’s record for most views in its first 24 hours.

Deathloop’s PC Specs Revealed: 4K And 60FPS Will Need A 3080 GPU

Ahead of Deathloop’s launch next week, developer Arkane Studios has revealed the PC requirements for the game. While the minimum specs are fairly reasonable, you’ll need to have a pretty beefy PC to run the game at Ultra settings with 4K resolution and 60 frames per second.

To run the game at all, Arkane states that you’ll need at least an Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 GPU, 12 GB of RAM, and an i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 1600 processor. But if you want all the bells and whistles, Deathloop needs an Nvidia RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an i9-10900K or Ryzen 7 3800 XT.

Now Playing: Deathloop – The Final Preview

At its highest settings, Deathloop will render at 4K resolution and 60fps; there’s no info yet on whether you’ll be able to uncap framerates. The game will support ultrawide monitors, as well. Users with less powerful PCs can take advantage of Deathloop’s support for FidelityFX Super Resolution, which is AMD’s intelligent upscaling technology.

Deathloop launches on September 14 for PS5 and PC (despite Arkane now being owned by Microsoft). Be sure to check out our preorder guide to the various versions of the game and read up on when Deathloop will go live. If you’re curious what Deathloop actually is, you can read our preview of the time loop-based stealth action game here.

Minimum PC Specs

1080P / 30FPS with low settings

  • OS : 64 bit Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
  • Processor : Intel Core i5-8400 @ 2.80GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
  • Memory : 12 GB
  • Graphics : Nvidia GTX 1060 (6GB) or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB)
  • DirectX : Version 12
  • Storage : 30 GB available space (HDD)

Recommended PC Specs

1080P / 60FPS with high settings

  • OS : 64 bit Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
  • Processor : Intel Core i7-9700K @ 3.60GHz or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
  • Memory : 16 GB
  • Graphics : Nvidia RTX 2060 (6GB) or AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8GB)
  • DirectX : Version 12
  • Storage : 30 GB available space (SSD)

Ultra PC Specs

4K / 60FPS with ultra settings

  • OS: 64 bit Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
  • Processor : Intel Core i9-10900K @ 3.70GHz or AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
  • Memory : 16 GB system RAM
  • Graphics : Nvidia RTX 3080 (10GB) or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16GB)
  • DirectX : Version 12
  • Storage : 30 GB available space (SSD)

PC Settings

Visuals

  • Field of View (60 to 110 degrees)
  • Ultrawide support
  • AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution support
  • Texture Details
  • Model Details
  • Shadow Details
  • Water Details
  • Terrain Details
  • Decal Details
  • Ambient Occlusion
  • Sun Shadows
  • Post-Process Anti-Aliasing
  • TWAA Sharpness
  • Sharpness Post Process
  • Camera Motion Blur
  • Bloom (yes/no)
  • Depth of Field (yes/no)
  • Lens Flare (yes/no)
  • Light Shafts (yes/no)

Gameplay

  • Headbob (0 to 100)

Language and Subtitles

  • Possibility to mix languages between VO and Text Language/Subtitles (for instance, English voices with French subtitles)
  • Subtitles Size (small/medium/large)
  • Display Subtitles (none/main dialogue/all dialogue)

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Deathloop Release Date, Pre-Load, And Launch Times

One of the biggest upcoming games, Deathloop, is out on September 14, but you won’t have to wait too long to have the latest title from Arkane Studios installed and ready for launch. Pre-loading is for the PS5 version of Deathloop will start 48 hours before it launches in your region, while PC players can start downloading the game globally on September 12 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

In the US, that works out to 9 PM PT on September 12 and 12 AM ET on September 13. You can see a full breakdown below of the unlock times

Now Playing: Deathloop – The Final Preview

Deathloop Pre-Load Times

PS5

  • US – 9 PM PT on September 12 and 12 AM ET on September 12

PC

  • US – 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST on September 12

Deathloop Global Unlock Times

PS5

  • US – Deathloop unlocks at 9 PM PT / 12 AM ET on September 14
  • Global – Deathloop unlocks at 12 AM in your time zone on September 14

PC

  • US – Deathloop unlocks at 9:01 PM PT / 12:01 AM ET on September 14
  • Australia, New Zealand, and Asia – Deathloop unlocks at 12:01 AM JST on September 13
  • Europe – Deathloop unlocks at 12:01 AM BST on September 14

Deathloop’s console exclusivity deals lasts for one year on PS5, but it looks like the game will make interesting use of that platform’s DualSense controller to provide a more immersive experience. To see what you’ll need to get Deathloop running at its graphical best on PC, you can check out our PC requirements post.

For more on the game, check out our Deathloop preorder guide and everything we know, as well as our final Deathloop preview in which Tamoor Hussain and Lucy James compare notes on attempting to break the time loop that protagonist Colt finds himself trapped in.

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