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Every January, the Royal Rumble stands out as one of WWE’s biggest and more important events of the year. It’s the beginning of the road to Wrestlemania and helps to set the tone for how the rest of the year will play out. The annual spectacle has some serious competition this year, though, thanks to NXT. Each time the developmental brand airs one of its TakeOver events on the WWE Network, it has the chance of surpassing the main roster’s product in terms of excitement and quality–and the next event, TakeOver Phoenix, is no different.

This is the third time NXT has presented a TakeOver the night before the Royal Rumble, and with all of the brand’s championship titles on the line, it has the makings of a historic event. Among the high-profile matches on the card is Tommaso Ciampa defending the NXT Championship against Aleister Black, and Bianca Belair attempting to best reigning NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.

Also in action are Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong of the Undisputed Era, defending their NXT Tag Team Championships against the War Raiders, as well as Johnny Gargano fighting Ricochet for the NXT North American Championship. Interestingly, there are some major names missing from the TakeOver card, including Velveteen Dream, Matt Riddle, and Undisputed Era leader Adam Cole. While that might be a hint at their involvement in the Royal Rumble, it’s entirely possible they’ll make some sort of impact during TakeOver.

NXT TakeOver Phoenix airs live on the WWE Network on Saturday, January 26 at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. A kickoff show will begin one hour prior. Make sure to check out the full card for the event below, as well as our predictions for who will walk out of the Royal Rumble victorious.

NXT TakeOver Phoenix Match Card:

• Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs. Aleister Black — NXT Championship Match
• Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Bianca Belair — NXT Women’s Championship Match
• The Undisputed Era (c) vs. War Raiders — NXT Tag Team Championship Match
• Ricochet (c) vs. Johnny Gargano — NXT North American Championship Match
• Montez Ford vs. Kassius Ohno

The video streaming service Hulu has announced plans to drop the price for its most popular subscription tier. Starting next month the ad-supported basic plan will drop to $6, down from $8. Its other pricing tiers will remain as they currently are.

The Hulu site already lists the new price, so it’ll already be effective for new subscribers. Existing subscribers will see the new price take effect as of February 26. The $6 tier is ad-supported but includes all of Hulu’s on-demand programming from participating channel providers, as well as Hulu’s slate of original content. A separate $12 tier removes the ads, while a significantly higher $45 tier includes live TV and is aimed at competing with cable subscriptions.

This comes just days after Netflix announced that its own plans would be rising in price. The $8 plan, which was comparable to Hulu’s ad-supported plan, will be raised to $9. Netflix’s own most popular tier, which includes higher-quality streaming and device compatibility, rose from $11 to $13, while its 4K Ultra-HD plan went from $14 to $16. Netflix was reportedly planning to use the new prices to reinvest in its original programming.

Hulu’s decision may have had nothing to do with Netflix’s, of course, but it’s a clear sign of different approaches to increasingly fierce competition among streaming services. Each service is balancing the development of original programming with its pricing structures to find an ideal match. Meanwhile both services are set to get more competition soon, with the launch of Disney+.

Mortal Kombat 11 went big by holding a kommunity reveal event and livestream to unveil the details of the next entry in this storied, brutal fighting game franchise. Several facets of the game were covered, which included new mechanics, a developing story, a brand new playable character, and a high-profile collaboration with UFC and WWE star Ronda Rousey. But behind the extravagant tongue-in-cheek gore and detailed combat system is series creator and long-time director Ed Boon. During the Mortal Kombat 11 reveal event, we had a moment to catch up with him to talk a little bit about the upcoming entry, how the NetherRealm team has evolved with Injustice and past MK games, and where the wild ideas for the gruesome fatalities come from.

We have Mortal Kombat 11 covered from all angles, so if you aren’t caught up, be sure to check out our compilation of all the fatalities so far from the seven playable characters from the event, the story trailer, the introduction of the new character Geras, and the stage presentation of breaking down a few new mechanics. The following interview has been edited for clarity and readability.

Ed Boon tells us fatalities are born out of meetings with the NetherRealm team. They have quite the imagination.

How do you and the team keep things fresh after so many years of Mortal Kombat?

I think the big thing is we always want to introduce change. The last thing we want to do is take the last game and just kind of reskin it with better graphics, and then people play it and realize that it’s the same game as before. So, we change things around. We change the story, we change the characters, we change the fighting mechanics. Every new Mortal Kombat introduces new elements that keep it fun.

Walk us through the new mechanics and how they change the game in your eyes?

In our last several games, we’ve had a meter in the bottom of the screen that the players would use. It was like their one resource for enhancing offensive moves, enhancing defensive moves, or saving it up for the big super move. And we split those three elements into two meters: one for offense and one defense. So, when you do an offensive move, you’re not using any of the resource for your defensive move or your super move. That defensive move meter and the super move is now up with the health meter. When you get down to 30%, your fatal blow becomes available and that really changes the dynamic of the game that you’re playing. It makes for a lot more fun and kind of [creates] tension in the fighting mechanics.

Coming off of Injustice 2 in 2017, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned and how have they carried into MK11?

You know, in everything that we do, I think we look at what have we learned from each game, what can we take away, what do people like that we can apply? And I think the meter that players use, we had to kind of make the decision of: should I use it during gameplay or do I save it up for the big kind of super move thing? And when we looked at that and said, you know, we don’t want people to never do super moves, the cool cinematic attacks. So, that was a lesson, and we kind of separated that, and it had just be a separate component of enhancing your moves versus doing a Fatal Blow. We’re really excited about that change in our game.

What else have you learned in terms of customization, gear, and maybe microtransactions?

A lot. Like with Injustice, that was heavily focused on gear and changing gear. Players constantly getting rewards and stuff like that. And we’re certainly trying to separate the visuals of what the gear looks like to what it actually does. Because with Injustice, they were kind of married together. You got a mask or something, it did A, B, and C. In Mortal Kombat 11, you just get the visual mask and then the player programs what it does. So it’s really kind of separating the visual and the gameplay. That was one of the lessons that we learned from Injustice 2.

Any comment on what microtransactions will look like in MK11?

Yeah. Well, I guess you know, we absolutely divorced gameplay from any kind of advantages you could get. We really wanted to have it so you can’t buy your way to a better character. And honestly, for this game, we’re veering away from [that], we’re not gonna have loot boxes or anything like that. So, that’s big–it’s more of an industry direction than it is a fighting game or Mortal Kombat direction. I think the loot boxes worked fine in Injustice because it didn’t affect the gameplay and whatnot. But at the same time, we’re just kind of steering away from it.

Are there any other games that you look to for inspiration, fighting game or otherwise? When I play this new version of Sub-Zero, maybe I see little bit of Kratos in there with his frozen axe and Fatal Blow.

Yeah, there absolutely has to be some kind of subliminal influence. In our discussions, we’ve probably said, “Oh, yeah, kind of like how Kratos does this,” or maybe we’re describing a move, “Oh, maybe how Ryu from Street Fighter does this.” For the most part, we’re trying to be as original or different as possible. But I think it’s inevitable when you make 10 Mortal Kombats, you’re going to draw influence from other games, movies, or TV shows.

Do you anticipate any issues with YouTube cracking down on blood and gore, and the platform being used as a streaming service for the community?

I’m not as familiar with the rules of YouTube and stuff like that, but I have seen some stuff of showing blood and gore if you’re trying to monetize or advertise, then that’ll definitely be conflicting with that. And I kind of understand it. You don’t want Pampers advertising over a Mortal Kombat video! So, there is audience-appropriate content, so I certainly wouldn’t object or say, “No, Pampers should advertise with Mortal Kombat!”

Are there any thoughts about having a bloodless mode?

We’ve had that actually for a number of our games, we’ve had a bloodless mode. Usually, somebody who buys a game called Mortal Kombat, that’s had this history of whatever, they kind of know what they’re getting. So it’s kind of like, “let’s make a G-rated version of The Godfather.” People are gonna say it doesn’t work.

It’s always tough to keep fighting games balanced. How do you appeal to a new player base making MK11 accessible while also sustaining a hardcore player base at the same time?

Yeah, that’s the million-dollar question and that’s the challenge we’re facing with every game we make. The right balance of accessibility so most people can enjoy the game and depth where the hardcore players can do it. So, we try to make the input start moves as broad and reaching as possible in terms of players who can do them, then also put nuances in the fighting where people can count frames and are able to kind of dissect the fight. And it is something that we work on every single game.

Let’s talk about Geras. MK has a long history with many of its characters that we’ve been playing for so long. How do you work in a new character? And also, how do you incorporate some very different mechanics? What was the inspiration behind bringing Geras into the mix?

A lot of Geras came from the stories that were being written. This [new] character Kronika, she hates her minions and her allies, and we knew that we needed a character to be her ally. We started talking about a couple of the visual designs and features, and that’s when Geras was born.

With that kind of framework in mind, our designers thought, “Okay, what can we make him do in the game?” That’s where they came up with things like, he can rewind time in the middle of the game. It’s kind of like a multi-step process. In terms of in Geras, his original idea came from what the writers were doing for the story.

We’ve seen NetherRealm games have an esports following and played at EVO. Any different type of push you’ll be making with MK11? Are you doing anything specific for the fighting game community?

Yes, well, as far as the fighting game community is concerned, in our last two games, Mortal Kombat X and Injustice 2, we’ve had Pro Series tournaments. There’ll be qualifiers and there’ll be a big tournament. Or we’ll hold an event that’s a tournament that involves prize money and all that. So we’ve been very heavily supporting our games long after launch, or as long as a year or more after launch.

How did the Ronda Rousey collaboration come up? How did that happen?

We have relationship with people in different industries, WWE, UFC, and there’s always collaboration and discussion. At one point somebody said, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have Ronda Rousey in a game?” We’re like, “Yes, it would be cool. Let’s make her Sonya.” Sonya and Ronda just seemed like a perfect fit, perfect marriage. So that kind of felt like it was meant to be.

Ronda comes with some baggage, so are there any concerns with past history in terms of who you collaborate with?

I guess I’m not aware of it. Everything from our experience with her, she’s just been awesome. She’s an unbelievable partner to work with. She brought so much energy to the recording sessions and promotion, so she’s been great.

You’ve probably been asked this before, but we have to know, how keep do you topping yourselves in terms of fatalities?!

Oh god! Well, the fatality process is…it’s a meeting. There’s a meeting and everybody who has an idea comes with them written down, and then we go, “Okay, it’s your turn,” and that person stands up and says, “Okay, now Scorpion starts off by doing this. And then he does this.”

And every once a while someone will go, “Oh man, that’s kind of over the top, you know? I don’t think we should…we kind of cross a line.” And then, “Okay, well, how about he does…” And it’s like a negotiation.

The ones that kind of resonate with the group, and myself, we’ll say “Okay, let’s storyboard that one, see how it’ll work.” And then after we storyboard, we motion capture, get cameras on it, and then we add effects, sound effects, and everything.

Do you or any of the team ever step back and think, “Oh boy, that’s pretty messed up! I need to re-think some things real quick!”

Well, the fatalities are an absolute work of the NetherRealm team, a sort of community of all the developers. So the ideas come from all over the place. It’s not one person coming up with all the fatalities.

In his time at Firaxis as the lead designer on Civilization V, Jon Shafer showed he wasn’t afraid to uproot a settled and successful series and venture forth in search of something better. With At The Gates, his first release under the one-man studio moniker Conifer Games and his first game proper since Civ V, you get the feeling Shafer challenged himself to pack up the whole 4X genre and find fertile new ground on which to start over again.

Connections to the past remain–technologies are researched, resource nodes are exploited, wars are inevitably waged–but Shafer’s pioneering vision here is of a genre that is narrower in scope and more concerned with how players respond to the figurative hand of cards they’re dealt. At The Gates is a promising starting point that, with a few thoughtful additions, has the potential to develop into a thriving empire.

It all starts with a settlement. At first, you play as the Goths on a randomly generated map that represents 400 A.D. Europe. On each map is a number of rival clans, some of whom are always vastly more powerful than you are right from the start, as well as two factions of the fading, but still intimidatingly large, Roman Empire. Your aim is to grow your settlement into an empire and eventually win via one of two victory conditions: by conquering the Romans by military force or by training your own Roman Legion to assume control, i.e. an economic victory. Cleverly, factions other than the Goths are unlocked to play once you’ve met and formed an alliance with them in a previous game.

As the early turns tick by, clans of people will join the settlement and you can put them to work extracting resources from the surrounding tiles. Each clan can be trained in a profession drawn from one of six disciplines, all of which are unlocked by generating knowledge to progress through the tech tree. Early decisions are influenced by the mysteries of the randomly-generated map algorithm. If it has spawned you in an area with a lot of mineral deposits you will probably want to focus your efforts on metalworking professions, a couple of diggers to extract the iron, and, say, a dredger to multiply their production.

But how should you employ your fourth and final clan? While the map informs your strategy in certain directions, the whims of your population will often be tugging you in the complete opposite direction. Clans are randomly rolled a handful of traits when they arrive at your settlement’s door. Some traits are unambiguously beneficial, like a +1 bonus to their movement points or with a few levels already earned in the crafting discipline, while others are downright bad, like a tendency to commit crimes; others yet are merely circumstantial, like preferring an active profession like explorer over a settled one like cheese-maker.

These elements quickly start to create compelling conundrums. What do you do when, on the one hand, the mineral-rich starting area of the map might be telling you to invest in mining, but on the other hand the clans you’re being sent bear all the characteristics of some really effective soldiers? Or cheese-makers? Clans can, of course, be retrained as the need for new or more advanced professions arises, but it cannot be done instantly and any experience they had accumulated in their previous profession is lost. If you’ve only got a village of farmers and bards when the bandits turn up, you’re quickly going to regret not training at least one of them to wield a spear. Balancing the demands of the map with the skills of your clans is the core strategic concern of the entire game. Along the way–and this is where At The Gates really starts to shine–there are many ways that relationship between the map and your people can change.

For one, you’re not committed to your starting position on the map. In fact, at any moment you can pack up your settlement, move to a new location, and resettle. For the first 50-odd turns you’ll be living something of a nomadic existence, exploring the lands, foraging for food, hunting and trapping animals, and collecting wood before moving on, crossing those mountains to the eastern coast or trekking across the steppes to the lush riverlands of the south. On a mechanical level, all the early technology you have at your disposal depletes resources–send a gatherer to work a fruit tree and they’ll keep picking until the tree is exhausted. It’s not until the mid to late game that you’re able to build structures that don’t deplete a resource and, in the case of a fruit plantation, can even replenish it. And it’s at this point that you’ll want to have found somewhere to make your permanent home.

This makes for an early game flow that is fascinating and unusual for the 4X genre. You want to be researching technology and training clans to suit your immediate situational needs, while also identifying (but, crucially, not yet exploiting) a resource-rich region you can later claim for your eventual empire. Sometimes this is straightforward enough–in one game I spawned on a narrow land bridge connecting two continents. I fished and picked berries until I was ready to journey southeast and declare my kingdom in a river valley full of wheat and horses. Other times it’s more challenging, like the time I spawned on a tiny peninsula with only a bare handful of tiles separating my settlement from the border of the Huns. The beauty here is that even when the enemy is literally at the gates, you have enough flexibility to find an alternative–in this case, several hundred miles away, preferably.

The beauty here is that even when the enemy is literally at the gates, you have enough flexibility to find an alternative…

The map itself also intriguingly shifts in fundamental ways thanks to both seasonal and situational changes in weather. During cold months you have to worry about supplying any units traveling outside your territory, or else that scouting party might not make it back home. It’s also vital to maintain a surplus of food for the winter as many of your food sources will no longer be operational. Heavy rains, flooding, and even blizzards on specific tiles also keep things interesting, as they can see units immobilized for multiple turns, potentially throwing into chaos your carefully planned assault on a rival settlement or, if you’re lucky, delaying that bandit raid on your logging camp.

As the environment changes over the years, so do the people. Two clans might get into a feud and you’ll be forced to pick a side. Another might be caught stealing and you’ll have to decide their punishment. It’s up to you to sort things out–retrain clans, shuffle them around to new locations, placate them with alcohol–before morale drops too low and everyone’s unhappy. This might seem fiddly and a little prescriptive, but it’s rarely as simple as it may sound. Clan Dankward may now hate Clan Waller, but the Dankwards are your best breadmakers and the Wallers your best blockcutters, you can’t just send one of them out to run the sheep pasture. Besides which, the Wallers are afraid of animals and refuse to work in livestock. Working out a solution to these problems often means having to make tough decisions and uneasy compromises.

None of these clans are fleshed-out characters; they’re just a collection of buffs and debuffs attached to a random name and portrait. But the way their traits and desires are expressed through their abilities and little exchanges goes a long way to make you feel like you’re ruling a loose collection of real people. They’re not people, of course, but they’re your people.

The same cannot be said of the opponents you face, though. You’re always pitted against the same opponents on every map, but to my mind this is acceptable within the bounds of the scenario Shafer chose to depict. Instead, the more significant problem here is the lack of interaction with those AI opponents. To begin with, they don’t particularly care about you–that’s how small and insignificant you are in your initial nomadic phase. As you grow they start to take notice, but it’s rarely more than a raised eyebrow here and there. Occasionally a dialogue box pops up and you can give a gift or rudely refuse one, and that’s pretty much it until you’re at war or you form an alliance. Essentially, you’re either utterly indifferent to the AI, or you’re their best friend or worst enemy, with barely any negotiating in between.

Indeed, it feels like the late game in general is underdeveloped. The absence of compelling diplomacy with the AI factions plays a huge part here, as for much of the game it’s perfectly possible to adopt an isolationist strategy and focus on the more economically focused victory. Pursuing the military route extends your interactions with the AI to throwing your stacked military units at theirs until you occupy their settlements and structures. Combat will be familiar to anyone who’s played Civ IV and it gets the job done in a similarly efficient, if tactically unspectacular, fashion.

Even trade is handled in a curiously neutral manner, having you buy and sell goods through an anonymous caravan rather than through any interaction with the AI factions. Worse still, the concept of religion is relegated to a checkbox that has an unclear effect on an AI faction’s disposition toward you. Shafer has admitted that the diplomacy features are still in their infancy and he has plans to continue to work on them post-launch. That’s an encouraging sign, and one we hope also applies to these other areas, because the late game in its current form is desperately undernourished.

That makes At The Gates difficult to wholeheartedly recommend. What’s there right now is undeniably good; however, what’s missing makes you yearn for how good it could yet be. It’s a fresh, invigorating, more personal take on the grand strategy game. But at the same time, it’s lacking in a few areas, and they really do hold it back from greatness. Jon Shafer has found that fertile new ground on which to settle. He just needs to give it a few seasons to grow.