At some point over the years there’s been a shift in what PC speakers look like. Many of you may remember plugging in a pair of small, often beige, units into the back of your PC (where the PCI sound card was) and pretending to enjoy the results. Over the years, built-in audio interfaces improved and external ones found their way to a more convenient location on our desks. This, in turn, led to a trend of bigger, creator-friendly, shelf-style speakers. But the rise of the home office has led to a renewed focus on streamlined workspaces, making compact speakers more appealing again.

Enter Drop, a company best known for mechanical keyboards and audiophile gear. With the announcement of its BMR1 desktop speakers, the company is hoping to re-invigorate the dedicated PC speakers category. At first glance, the BMR1 looks like it has more in common with the Logitech or Creative speakers of yore (they still make them, I know), but with the promise of the audio oomph usually reserved for larger “monitor” style speakers.

Given Drop’s credentials as a destination for audio enthusiasts, the company was unlikely to put together something you might find in the PC accessories section at Best Buy. Unsurprisingly, the BMR1 isn’t as cheap as those big box store options, either. At $129 they’re at the upper end of what more mainstream alternatives tend to cost.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

That $129 gets you a pair of 15W Balanced Mode Radiation (BMR) speakers with either 3.5mm or Bluetooth input. That’s a respectable amount of audio power for this size. There’s no USB here though, as there’s no built-in interface — you’ll either use your PC’s headphone port or the outputs on a dedicated audio interface. As is the norm with this type of speaker, one is the “active” unit with the in/outputs and you simply connect the other with a (proprietary) cable for the left channel audio. Though I will say the included cable is a little on the short side and currently there’s no alternative.

Physically, the BMR1 is a minimalist affair. There are no dials for power, volume or EQ and the inputs and outputs are all hidden around the back. This will be an annoyance for those who prefer physical controls, especially if you have no alternative (such as a keyboard with a rotary or a programmable mouse). The housing is made of plastic and doesn't give the BMR1 a premium feel, which is in contrast to the company’s keyboards. The stands are also plastic which makes the speakers feel light and prone to moving about if a cable tugs on them, for example.

On front of the speakers are two drivers — one full-range BMR driver along with a passive radiator. One nice touch is that the BMR1s can be mounted either horizontally or vertically which makes them suitable for a variety of different setups, be that for your own aesthetic preference or out of necessity. The right side speaker has the BMR1’s lone button along the bottom edge for switching between 3.5mm, bluetooth and headphone modes.

Headphone mode might sound counterintuitive to have on a set of… speakers, but it’s a practical tool that passes through the audio from your PC to headphones without having to unplug the BMR1, which, depending on your setup, could be occupying the only output port on your PC. It’ll even work with microphones on compatible (TRRS/4-pole) headsets so you can take work calls without having to remove the speakers to free up that headset jack.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

That’s a neat quality-of-life feature, but the main focus here is obviously those BMR drivers. In terms of volume, the 15W speakers are likely capable for most small to medium sized offices. My home office is somewhere north of 150 square feet and the BMR1 amply fills the space. They’re described as “near field” monitors, i.e. specifically designed for close proximity, but they are able to fill this room with sound without much struggle.

As for the quality of that sound, that’s a little more complicated. The BMR1s appear to perform best when their volume is set somewhere between 40 - 70 percent of the maximum. Above that, things start to sound a little strained, which isn’t unusual — especially for speakers this size. At the lower end, from mute to around 30 percent, the speakers are great with spoken word — ideal for podcasts, video viewing and voice calls. But at these lower volumes, music feels a little too muddled to my ears. It’s fine for having something on in the background, but it’s a slightly dense listening experience.

Nudge the volume up a bit, and things improve. Just north of the middle section of the volume curve is where the BMR1s do their best work. There’s still a slight lack on the low frequencies, meaning bass forward music can sometimes feel dried out. If you’re listening to rock, country, classical or any other genre where the action is more in the mid-frequencies, you can have a good time with the BMR1s, but if Hip-Hop or Drum & Bass are more your thing, then you might find yourself wanting at any volume.

The listening experience improves if you can have the speakers nearer to you. There’s definitely a sweet spot at around maybe 18 inches away. When they were about two feet away from me on my desk, Metallica’s Enter Sandman sounded fine, but a little thin on the low end, thus leaving the song’s splashy hi-hats and James Hetfield’s voice feeling a little over represented. If I leaned in a little, the rhythmic bassline and kick drums were notably more apparent.

Even with great placement, the sound from the BMR1 never quite felt as robust as I wanted it to be. I know these are PC speakers, but Drop’s pitch is that these are “ideal for movies and music” — specifically for the desktop. And while they do an acceptable job most of the time, there are definitely occasions where I notice they’re lacking, and more so than I was expecting.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

It was a little surprising to see that the BMR1 only supports SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. Obviously, with a focus on PCs, the inclusion of AptX or LDAC might feel a little superfluous, but the Bluetooth functionality, to me, is more about making them compatible with your phone, too (rather than another input mode from a PC). As such, support for higher-quality codecs, even just regular ol’ AptX, feels like a bit of a miss here.

The BMR1 ships as a 2.0 (stereo) system, but it can also be used as a 2.1 with an external subwoofer. There’s a switch around the back that will shelf off the bass on the main speaker to balance things out, and this would certainly resolve the issue with weaker low frequencies. Alas, I don’t have a compatible sub, but some reports online indicate that the whole sound does present much more robustly in this configuration. The bigger issue there being, that this requires another separate spend, probably another thing to plug in and takes away from one of the BMR1’s primary appeals: a simple, compact setup.

This is something of a theme with the BMR1s: they slightly miss on some key areas. In certain, optimal, conditions, they’re really quite enjoyable. But that sweet spot is limited and not what you expect either from the brand or for the price. Some of the practical complaints like material choices, the proprietary cable and lack of physical controls feel like obvious misses. The sound profile is enjoyable but the bass is sometimes a bit lacking for certain styles of music. The price point isn’t egregious, but a shade over where it should be. And so on.

Making the BMR2 feels like a task Drop won’t need much assistance with. Most of the pre-order reviews on its own website list off similar minor annoyances. There was a lot to look forward to here, and the final product doesn’t land too far from its promises, but it does fall short enough that more demanding users — which are kinda Drop’s whole thing — could feel slightly underwhelmed.

Foldables have come a long way since the original Galaxy Fold went on sale back in 2019. They’re smaller, they’re tougher and while they still aren’t a great option for people on a budget, they’re now more affordable too. (Well, kind of.) And with more device makers getting into the space, there are a wider range of options than ever before. So if you’ve been thinking about buying your first foldable phone (or upgrading from an older model), here’s a guide covering the best models on sale today.

Note: For this guide, we’re focusing on devices that are widely available in North America and Europe. That’s because while there are even more options for people who live in Asia (especially China), they are often difficult to buy from abroad and may not support your local carriers.

How we test

When evaluating foldables, we consider the same general criteria as we do when we’re judging the best smartphones. Devices need to have good battery life (at least a full day’s use), bright displays (peaks of at least 1,000 nits), sharp cameras and responsive performance. That said, foldable phones come in different shapes (and sizes); there are varying designs that may appeal to different types of people.

For those who prefer more compact and stylish devices, flip-style foldables resemble old-school namesakes but with flexible interior displays (typically six to seven inches diagonally) and smaller exterior screens. Alternatively, for power users and people who want to maximize mobile productivity, there are larger book-style foldables (with seven to eight-inch main displays) that can transform from a candy bar-style phone to essentially a small tablet when opened.

A note on durability: Are foldable phones worth it?

Aside from their displays, the biggest difference between foldable phones and more traditional handsets is durability. That’s because while some models like the Pixel Fold and Samsung’s Galaxy Z line offer IPX8 water resistance (which is good for submersions of up to five feet for 30 minutes), their flexible screens – which are largely made from plastic – present some unique challenges.

Most foldables come with factory-installed screen protectors. However, unlike regular phones, users are instructed not to remove them without assistance from approved service centers. Thankfully, Samsung does offer one free screen protector replacement for its foldables, while Google charges between $29 and $129 depending on the warranty status of your device. That said, while we can’t do long-term testing for every foldable phone on the market, after personally using the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Fold 4 each for a year, I’ve found that Samsung’s pre-installed screen protector tends to start bubbling nine to 12 months after purchase. So you’ll probably want to factor in that your foldable may need some sort of servicing after about a year unless you plan on removing the screen protector entirely (which is possible, but goes against most manufacturers' instructions).

Furthermore, foldable phone owners need to be mindful about keeping sharp objects away from their flexible displays, as rocks, keys or even pressing down very hard with a fingernail can leave permanent marks. In the event that you need to get a flexible screen serviced, you’re potentially facing a much higher repair bill when compared to a typical phone (up to $500 or more depending on the model and the severity of the damage). In short, while the ruggedness of foldable phones has improved a lot, they're still more delicate than traditional handsets, which is something you need to account for.

The best flagship foldable phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

Despite a growing number of challengers, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line remains the best flagship foldable on sale today. On the Z Fold 5, Samsung introduced its new Flex Hinge, which has slimmed down the phone’s dimensions while allowing it to close completely flat. It boasts blazing performance thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, excellent battery life and the flexible main display’s brightness is the best you can get with a peak of 1,750 nits. And, thanks to new multitasking gestures and updated taskbar, its capacity for mobile productivity is simply unmatched. If that’s not enough, unlike most of its competitors, the Z Fold 5 offers native stylus support, though you have to shell out extra for one of Samsung’s S-Pens (and a case if you want somewhere to stash it). The biggest downside is that with a starting price of $1,800, the Z Fold 5 is still extremely expensive. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

Runner up: Google Pixel Fold

While the Z Fold 5 may be our favorite big foldable overall, the Pixel Fold isn’t far behind. Its wider design means its 5.8-inch exterior display feels a lot more usable than the Z Fold 5’s skinnier 6.2-inch Cover Screen. Additionally, that extra width results in a flexible main panel with a landscape orientation, so it’s super easy to open the Pixel Fold and launch straight into watching a TV show or movie; no need to rotate the device. And, despite being Google’s first foldable device, the Pixel Fold (12.1mm) is thinner than Samsung’s alternative (13.4mm) while boasting better camera quality and a longer 5x optical zoom. The phone also has IPX8 water resistance and Google’s excellent Pixel-only software including features like the Hold for me, Call Screener, the Pixel Recorder app and more. — S.R.

Read our full review of the Google Pixel Fold

The best flip-style foldable phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Packing a faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, better cameras and longer battery life, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is our favorite compact foldable. This year, Samsung even added its new Flex Hinge, which makes the phone thinner while also eliminating the gap between its screen when closed. Also, thanks to its larger 3.4-inch exterior display, the latest model can do much more without needing to open it up. You can even run full Android apps, though you’ll have to mess around with Samsung’s Good Lock software first. Its display is also brighter and more colorful than what you get from rivals, and starting at $1,000, it’s not that much more expensive than a more conventional high-end phone. — S.R.

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Runner up: Motorola Razr+

While the Razr+ (or the Razr 40 Ultra for those outside North America) may not be quite as sophisticated as the Galaxy Z Flip 5, what it lacks in tech it makes up for with its personality. It’s available in three colors, with the magenta model featuring a soft vegan leather back. In addition, its exterior display features a neat cutout that wraps around its cameras and compared to Samsung’s flip-style foldable, it’s actually a touch easier to use. There’s no need to fool around with extra settings just to view all your favorite Android apps. And for those who are nostalgic for the original Razr from the early 2000s, Moto even included an easter egg that features a retro UI. Unfortunately, its water resistance is much less substantial, as it’s only rated to withstand spills or small splashes. — S.R.

Read our full review of the Motorola Razr+

A more affordable option: Motorola Razr

The non-plus Moto Razr (aka the Razr 40 internationally) is the company’s first attempt to make a more affordable flip-style foldable. Starting at £800 (U.S. pricing still TBA), it’s one of the least expensive options on sale today. However, it features a much smaller 1.5-inch exterior display along with a slower Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip and somewhat underwhelming cameras. On the bright side, it features the same display you get on its more expensive sibling. The one difference is that it’s limited to 144Hz instead of 165Hz due to its less powerful processor. And, similar to the magenta Razr+, all the colors of the basic Razr (Sage Green, Vanilla Cream, Summer Lilac) come with a soft vegan leather back. — S.R.

Read our full review of the Motorola Razr

Exotic options

As mentioned earlier, there’s an abundance of exotic – and often more advanced – foldables well beyond the Samsungs and Motorolas of the world. However, you either need to have access to phone importers or actually live in Asia, and don’t mind sideloading missing Google apps on your own.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 3

The best overall book-style foldable is none other than the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, which packs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, four Leica-enhanced rear cameras (including a 5x zoom periscope) and a 4,800mAh battery within its surprisingly slim body – 10.86mm when folded, and 5.26mm when unfolded. Xiaomi even goes as far as boasting a 500,000-fold durability – more than doubling that of the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Despite its absence in the western markets, the Mix Fold 3’s newly-added 50W wireless charging option would be much welcomed over there. The phone comes with a protective case for both halves of the body, with the rear shell offering a kickstand for easier video playback and video calls. One Hong Kong-based specialist can send a Mix Fold 3 to the US from around $1,500 with shipping included, which is still much cheaper than Samsung’s equivalent. — Richard Lai, Senior Reporter

Honor Magic V2

Another worthy contender is the Honor Magic V2, which currently holds the title for the slimmest foldable phone available. We’re talking about just 9.9mm thick when folded, and a mere 4.7mm thick when opened, but it’s still a full-blown flagship device. Weighing at just 231g (8.15oz), this is the lightest book-style foldable phone as well. Funnily enough, the Magic V2 also packs the largest battery capacity in this category, offering 5,000mAh of juice thanks to Honor’s silicon-carbon battery – a breakthrough tech in the mobile industry. The obvious trade-off here is the missing wireless charging feature, but you do get a durability rating of 400,000 folds. Sadly, due to limited availability, the Magic V2 costs slightly more – around $1,670, shipping included, from the same Hong Kong shop. — R.L.

Oppo Find N3 Flip

If you’d prefer a smaller flip-style foldable from overseas, the Oppo Find N3 Flip is the only triple-camera option at the time of writing this guide. While others only offer a main camera and an ultra-wide camera, the Find N3 Flip benefits from an additional 32-megapixel 2x portrait shooter next to its 3.26-inch external screen (and you still get a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the inside). As a bonus, this clamshell has a physical mute switch, a whopping 600,000-fold durability and a generous 4,300mAh battery. That said, wireless charging is again a no-show here. You can pick up a Find N3 Flip in either black, gold or pink, and importing from Hong Kong should cost around $1,090 with shipping included. There’s no price advantage in this case, so it’s more about how much you want Oppo’s designs, features and accessories than anything else. — R.L.

Microsoft is releasing a big Windows 11 update next week, on September 26. The catchily-named 23H2 is packed with some real game changing features, along with a whole bunch of quality of life improvements. The update arrives just in time for the launch of the just-announced Surface Laptop Go 3 and the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

The big news here is the inclusion of the new AI-powered Windows Copilot feature. This toolset already exists as part of the Edge browser, but now it’ll be natively implemented in Windows, which allows for some nifty use cases. This native implementation means that Copilot is available in nearly every aspect of the operating system, from Powerpoint to Teams and beyond.

You’ll be able to use Copilot, for instance, to craft text messages using calendar data, explore navigation options in Outlook, generate Spotify playlists and more. This is generative AI so Copilot will also shop for items based solely on a photo, remove photo backgrounds and access the Bing Image Creator, which will soon be based on the vastly-improved Dall-E 3. Bing Chat is also now a native feature that exists in the sidebar.

AI isn’t the only game in town, as this is also a traditional OS update with the usual quality of life improvements. There’s finally native support for RAR and 7-zip file formats, so you can get rid of those third-party archiving apps. The File Explorer has been completely redesigned to increase efficiency, with large file thumbnails and a carousel interface, and the Paint app underwent a similar transformation, with a new dark mode and forthcoming transparency layers. There’s a redesigned volume mixer and updated RGB lighting controls called Dynamic Lighting. The latter toolset uses the open HID LampArray standard and many of the big names in gaming PCs and accessories have vowed to support this effort, such as Acer, Asus, HP, Razer and Logitech, among others.

Microsoft

Some current Windows 11 features have received minor updates here. The passkey experience has been optimized and moving your data to a new PC has been streamlined, thanks to an official Windows Backup software suite. Additionally, voice controls have been expanded and the photos app boasts some new editing options.

Finally, there’s the just-announced Ink Anywhere feature. This intriguing toolset is exclusively for stylus users interacting with a touchscreen PC or hybrid device. Ink Anywhere lets you draw on the screen in any text box anywhere within the operating system. The OS converts the handwriting to text and uses it in a number of innovative ways. This is useful for instantaneously uploading notes, but the system also uses AI to automatically answer queries, with Microsoft showing off the tool being used to complete a handwritten math problem.

Build a Rocket Boy has unveiled a new trailer for Everywhere, an ambitious sandbox title that will enable players to build their own experiences and explore others. If that sounds a bit like Fortnite on the surface, just wait until you see the art style. It looks very much like Epic’s game, right down to the stylized character models.

The clip provides the first look at gameplay. It's clear Everywhere has much more to offer than shooting and driving around pretty landscapes — the trailer shows a skeeball game and one character dodging obstacles in a gauntlet. It puts a heavy onus on the building aspect too, via the narration and some of the creative tools it shows off.

Build a Rocket Boy, which is led by former GTA producer Leslie Benzies, says the trailer shows off some of the "scale and variety" of what Everywhere has to offer. It says the project “seamlessly blends gameplay, adventure, creativity and discovery in an all-new multi-world gaming experience that redefines how players connect with one another and the digital world around them," according to VGC.

The studio announced Everywhere at Gamescom 2022 and it said at the time that the game would arrive sometime this year. There's no release date as yet, but Build a Rocket Boy plans to host a closed alpha test soon. You can create an account and claim your username now to have a shot at taking part in the first PC test.

With its latest Instax camera, Fujifilm has separated the camera from the printer. The Instax Pal is a tiny palm-sized 4.9-megapixel (MP) camera that takes digital photos, then lets you print them to the bundled Instax Mini Link 2 printer with a variety of effects via the new Instax Pal app. Designed for users 13 and up, the idea is to "capture life's spontaneous moments for photo printing," the company says. 

The camera is automatic, but aperture and shutter settings cover a wide range of shooting conditions, from interior to exterior. It's equipped with a wide angle lens and flash, and lets you shoot in a variety of ways. You can capture images by pushing the large shutter button on the back, or trigger it remotely using the Pal app. It supports interval shooting to capture scenes with 3, 6, 11 or 21 continuous images at three-second intervals. 

Fujifilm

There's a detachable ring for use as a finger strap, simple viewfinder (lol) or a camera stand for remote shooting. Other features include a speaker for audio prompts, a USB-C port for charging, a microSD card slot (the internal memory can hold 50 images) and even a screw mount for a tripod. 

Via Bluetooth, the Instax Pal app gives you a view through the camera's lens for composing images and triggering the shutter. Images are then automatically copied to the app. You can adjust the exposure by +/- 2 EV and choose two between two quality settings, Rich mode (vivid, with more detail) and Natural mode. When you're ready to print, there's a bundle of effects that includes sepia, cool, vivid and soft, along with controls for brightness, contrast, rotate, crop, text, stickers, emojis and more. 

Fujifilm

Printing from the app is possible, but unfortunately requires a second Fujifilm app for the printer. It lets you print Instax Mini pictures (2.13 x 3.4 inches) in about 15 seconds, with a 1.5-minute development time. Quality is about the same as you'd get with an Instax Mini camera like the SQ40, since the process is the same — the only difference is that the Pal's camera is separated from the printer. The advantage to the second app is that you can also print photos from your smartphone's camera reel. 

Photos can also be sent to friends via the Pal app, or posted to social media — all fitting for a camera marketed to teens. The only challenge is that it isn't cheap. The Instax Pal bundle arrives in late October (along with the app) for $200, while the new Soft Lavender Instax film designed for the bundle is $15.75 for a 10 pack (regular Instax film is about $13 for a ten pack). If you only need physical photos, other Instax Mini models are far cheaper at less than $100 — but the Pal does support both physical and digital photos, while giving you a smartphone printer to boot. 

Electronic Arts is "all-in on Battlefield" as it tries to bolster the first-person shooter series. To that end, it has shifted Need for Speed developer Criterion Games over from its sports division to the EA Entertainment unit. Most of Criterion's team will be working with DICE, Ripple Effect and Ridgeline on Battlefield games, while "a core group" will continue with Need for Speed. 

Criterion already has experience with Battlefield after working on vehicles for those games over the years. As such, the studio is a logical fit to help out with the franchise. "Criterion’s experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe," Vince Zampella — who leads the Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield and Need for Speed teams — wrote in a memo.

Battlefield 2042 wasn't exactly received well. It had a buggy launch and it took DICE several months to fix some of the core issues before the game's first season started. Soon after it released Battlefield 2042, EA added Battlefield to the portfolio of franchises that Zampella (a FPS veteran who previously worked on Titanfall and Medal of Honor) oversees.

EA is arguably in need of another majorly successful franchise it can rely on in the long run alongside EA FC, Madden, Apex Legends and The Sims. Battlefield is one of its best bets for that, given the series' mostly strong track record. Competing with the likes of Call of Duty will remain a tall order. However, it seems like EA has a clearer plan for how to do that and it's beefing up the ranks of developers to help it get there.

So there’s a new GoPro in town. Maybe you saw a bunch of new features and wondered if the new camera is worth the upgrade from an older model? Maybe you want to know if it’s a better fit than a rival camera like DJI’s Action 4? Here we’ll go through everything that’s new with the Hero 12 and hopefully, by the end of it, you’ll feel ready to make an informed decision. There are some useful new tools, some neat hardware tweaks and of course, an important aesthetic update this time around. All of which we’ll get to below.

Battery life

Okay, deep breath for this one as there’s a bit to unpack. Battery life has always been a bit of a pain point for action cameras. Their smaller form-factor, exposure to different and high performance needs (shooting 4K slow-mo, and so on) means they are constantly battling basic physics. GoPro’s claim then, that the Hero 12 offers “2x runtime” will have seen even the most ragged of outdoor filmers crack a smile. But remember, runtime isn’t the same as “record” time.

What we’re seeing here is an extension of the amount of time the camera can run at high power drain modes before it reaches its thermal limit and has to stop. So the claim is really that you should get about twice the recording time at the most demanding settings. If you’re shooting at good ol’ 1080p/30, for example, battery performance is only extended by a few minutes.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

To test this, I pitted the Hero 12 against the Hero 11 in two scenarios, each at the opposite ends of the “intensity” spectrum. On the high end, we set the cameras to record at 4K/120 while walking with the camera on a standard grip. On the other end of the scale we recorded a basic 1080/30 video for as long as the camera could. Both were performed outside to allow for airflow, which is what the camera was optimized for.

In the 4K tests, I was surprised to see there was no noticeable difference between the Hero 12 and the Hero 11 with the same settings. I repeated the test a couple of times and the 12 was only able to best the 11 by about five minutes. On one occasion, the Hero 11 actually outlasted the Hero 12. The average duration for one continuous video was 35 minutes. Other outlets and reviews have had more success here, so I'm currently speaking with GoPro to see what might be causing this disparity in results. The 1080p tests were also comparable, with both cameras lasting around an hour and a half which is expected, as GoPro doesn’t claim large advances in battery life at these settings.

Bluetooth audio

I don’t think anyone was expecting this one, but it’s a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Using a microphone with a GoPro typically involves using the Media Mod, which is usually an $80 additional purchase. Even with that, going wireless requires having a compatible microphone. With the new Bluetooth capability, you can use the AirPods (or other Bluetooth headset) that you may already own.

I wouldn’t recommend using a microphone over Bluetooth if you can avoid it, as they’re typically designed for calls rather than delivering a standup to camera. That said, the quality is good enough for impromptu vlogs and or live commentary as you take part in your activity of choice. Either way, it’s a neat new feature that’s really easy to set up. I was worried about latency — a common problem with Bluetooth audio generally — but any there might be is barely perceptible.

This functionality also allows you to control your GoPro from afar using voice commands. I might wager that this is equally, if not more useful to a lot of people. GoPro’s voice commands are fairly reliable, so it’s nice to be able to ask the camera to take a photo from a distance so you don’t need to set a timer. Likewise, you can end a video without having to record those final seconds of you walking back to the camera to press the button. All these little time saves add up!

8:7 everywhere

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

The big news with the Hero 11 Black was a larger sensor that meant you could do cool things like punch out different aspect ratio videos in 4K from the same source material. That source video was also usable on its own, if square-ish 8:7 video was something you needed. With the Hero 12, 8:7 mode is now available everywhere, including TimeWarp, TimeLapse and Night Effects modes.

An 8:7 TimeWarp is a fun addition, but the real gain here is the option to shoot in that mode, capture every pixel available to you, and then have the flexibility to do more with it later. For Night Effects, for example, you could output a vertical version for social media, and a 16:9 one for YouTube and both of them would be in full resolution. This is the only new direct video feature this time around, which will disappoint some potential upgraders, but for fans of those specific modes it’s good news.

Vertical capture

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

Now that 8:7, full-sensor recording is available across the board, GoPro is seeking to make some of its use cases even easier. One such example is vertical capture mode. In short, since the Hero 11 there’s no technical reason why you need to rotate or mount the camera vertically as you can achieve full resolution 9:16 videos even with the camera positioned horizontally.

Essentially, this feature provides a way to record a video for social media without having to either remount it or to punch it out in 9:16 via the app. Thus, vertical capture greatly smooths the process from shooting on the camera to sharing with your followers. There’s not much more to say here other than it works as advertised and should save a fair amount of time for those who use that aspect ratio frequently.

HDR video in ultra-high resolutions

Dynamic range may sound like a technical setting for pro photographers, but it’s important even for casual users. As a camera tries to capture a shot, it will assess the lighting and adjust its exposure to maintain the best balance (unless you’re using all manual settings). When there are bright and dark areas in the same shot, the camera has to make a best guess. To improve on that, modern cameras have HDR modes specifically for times when there’s a “High Dynamic Range (HDR).” In short, the Hero 12 Black claims to be better than its predecessors in these situations.

Technically, the Hero 11 is capable of outputting HDR video (the Hero 12 and Hero 11 share the same internal hardware), but you usually had to do some legwork in post to get there. The Hero 12 has “HDR” as one of the shooting modes right in the menus making it a simple button push to get those more natural tones.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

In side by side testing, there’s a marked difference between the Hero 12 and last year’s camera. In the same, sunny conditions during the day I found the sky was sometimes blown out on the Hero 11 when there were also a lot of shaded areas in shot as the camera tries to expose for both. The Hero 12 was able to handle the same lighting conditions without blowing out bright areas or under exposing the shade giving a more balanced image overall.

(Speaking of HDR, the GoPro 12’s implementation isn’t true HDR in the sense that it captures using the BT.2020 HDR color space — i.e., if you plug it into your Samsung HDR TV you won’t see it in HDR, but just regular TV mode. Rather, it takes two images of each frame in quick succession — like bracketing on a photo camera — one exposed for shadows and one for highlights, and combines them into a single image. The end result is more detailed skies, shadowy areas, etc.)

Better selfies

Back in the olden days, there was a light “hack” for getting the best selfie out of a GoPro: put the camera into Time lapse Photo mode and grab multiple shots just to be sure. In newer GoPros you have to grab a frame from a time lapse via the app as the camera automatically outputs a ready-to-share video. Interval Photo, then, revives some of that old functionality in a new, improved way. The basic gist is that you don't need to use a timer, instead you can capture multiple photos and pick the one you like best, such as the one below where I had all the time in the world to perfectly place my hand on top of the towers.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

To prevent confusion, Interval Photo is a setting under the Photos menu and not the Time Lapse menu. From there you can set a wide range of intervals — from half a second up to two minutes — and use this with all photo types, including HDR and SuperPhoto (GoPro’s “auto” mode). This differs from a time lapse where the images are processed in a way that prevents sudden changes in exposure between photos for a smooth video. That’s to say, images are optimized for the resulting video. With Interval Photo, they’re standard photos for use as photos with no further processing.

Night Effects come to photos (kinda)

Another feature that builds on something that was introduced in the Hero 11 is the extension of the Night Effects (Star Trails, Vehicle Lights and Light Painting) to create a photo. These three effects use long exposures and witchcraft (maybe) to create videos with these dramatic light-based effects. With the Hero 12, you will now be presented with a photo alongside the video. There’s no extra action required to get this, it’ll just show up in your gallery automatically.

What you won’t see are any controls or any way to choose at which point of the video the image will be extracted from, the image appears to be based on the final frame of the video, which makes sense. That said, in our testing it generally produces good results (assuming your video was good in the first place!). Again, you’ve pretty much always had the option to extract frames from videos and with the Quik app that’s easier than ever before, but having one ready for you, is another welcome convenience.

Log

Steve Dent contributed the following section.

GP-Log is designed to give creators more control over images by increasing dynamic range, specifically by allowing more detail in shadows and highlights. That can be combined with 10-bit encoding which boosts the total number of colors to billions, meaning subtle gradients (mainly in skies) will show less banding.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

As ever with log, it can be a challenge to get a nice image out of it. The LUTs supplied by GoPro do an OK job, but significant tweaking is still required by the editor to gain any major benefits. Plus, it’s not a very aggressive log setting, so the boost in dynamic range is small, akin to DJI’s D-Log M setting. It does give editors who know what they’re doing more options, but if you’re unfamiliar with log, HDR is a much easier way to improve dynamic range – with no adjustments required.

New mounting option

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

If you’ve been using GoPros for any amount of time, you’ll be familiar with the “finger” mount system. It’s… fine. It’s certainly sturdy, which is what you want in an action camera, but it’s also fiddly and those thumb screws can get real tight, so tight that sometimes it feels personal. Sometimes you wish you could just use the tripod or selfie pole you already have without having to dip into your bag of adapters. Well, now you can.

Flip the GoPro Hero 12 Black over and lo and behold, you’ll be presented with a 1/4 inch thread (along with the sound of angels harmonizing, possibly). I have a bunch of the aforementioned GoPro-to-tripod mount adapters, but I can never seem to find them when I need them. I also have a bunch of small tripods that will get a lot more usage now that they are directly compatible with the GoPro. Not to mention, if you use your GoPro as a webcam, it’s not a lot easier to use with other streaming mounts and boom arms. I’m not sure what it says about the Hero 12 when this is my personal favorite new feature, but here we are!

“What are we willing to fight for? What do we deserve, morally speaking? What is our place, our relationship with the universe, with nature?”

During a preview of The Talos Principle 2 in August, series writer Jonas Kyratzes posed 19 questions about the essence of humanity in just 90 seconds. Between explanations of new mechanics and puzzle systems, he rattled off deep musings about society and the natural world as easily as if he were reading his weekly grocery list. It felt like these questions were constantly on his mind, poised at the tip of his tongue.

“What does society owe me?” he asked. “What do I owe society? What is our relationship with nature? What is our relationship with the universe? Is the universe kind? Is nature understanding or is it cruel and random? And if it is cruel and random, where do we fit in? What degree of control should we have?”

Croteam

He wasn’t craving answers. TheTalos Principle 2 is filled with provocations like these, and according to Kyratzes, they’re designed to generate conversation and debate, even if it’s all internal. The goal is to spawn deep thoughts about the future of humanity and the role technology can play in our evolution.

“They're statements that are intended to make you think,” Kyratzes told Engadget a few weeks after the initial preview. “Let's say the robots are human and they're capable of love. Like, that's our premise.… Hopefully that is also the sort of thing that will provoke some thought.”

This philosophical approach to the future is the heart of The Talos Principle, an award-winning sci-fi puzzle game that debuted in 2014, and its tender curiosity is baked into the sequel as well. The Talos Principle 2 is due out this year for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and it directly follows the story of the original. It’s set in a burgeoning society built by sentient robots, and its main gameplay mechanic involves solving complex laser riddles, interspersed with conversations about the nature of consciousness, love and survival.

Croteam

Co-writer Verena Kyratzes didn’t work on the original game’s story, but she and the other developers at Croteam used its calm, question-asking approach as a blueprint for the sequel.

“It didn't only ask you a question, but once you gave the answer to the question, it kind of very politely asked you to just think about whether you're really sure about that,” she said. “It's a game that constantly tries to make you think, to interrogate yourself and your beliefs, and I really hope that we managed to do that in the second one, too. The gentleness of it is something that's very important to me because I think if you're talking down to somebody, if you're just telling them, ‘That was stupid,’ then they will immediately close off.”

The Talos Principle 2 represents an old-school brand of sci-fi that invites people to play around with the ideas it poses; warm, welcoming and slow. Even the series’ conclusions, when it offers any, are inherently optimistic, centering on humanity and the ability society has to thrive with nature in the future. It’s a return to a Carl Sagan era of forward thought, positioning people as the solution, not just the instigator, in problems like climate change, overpopulation, rogue AI, pandemics and space travel. This alone is a refreshing perspective in a sea of mainstream sci-fi media that only envisions the future as a miserable, sterile void manufactured by society's stubbornness and greed.

Croteam

“Consistently, science fiction presents itself as being original for taking a dystopian view, as if it was subverting a mainstream narrative of hopefulness,” Jonas Kyratzes said. “They'll be like, ‘In our story technology is bad.’ Oh really, you mean like every other story?”

As a series, The Talos Principle is more thematically aligned with the aspirational sci-fi of the original Star Trek or The Next Generation than it is with the gloom of today's Picard. This optimistic, human-first approach makes The Talos Principle 2 subversive as a work of contemporary sci-fi.

Here’s how Jonas Kyratzes and Verena Kyratzes discussed the modern glut of pessimistic sci-fi among themselves:

Jonas: “[Dystopia] is of course, on some level, a response to the conditions we live in. But it's also limiting our ability to imagine something else. And I think this kind of optimism, that's so crucial, it's so fundamental in a way that it's hard to talk about, because what are we without a future? I think that also reflects our alienation from our own humanity. The tendency to always go, ‘Humanity is a virus, humanity is bad, all humans are evil.’ Einstein once remarked that this is a very troubling thing, a sign of alienation, because it's such a fundamental thing to have a connection to humanity. Because you are human. … It's the most mainstream idea, it's the ruling ideology of our time: Nothing will get better and you shouldn't expect anything to get better.”

Verena: “Often we’ll watch something that is set 300, 400, 1,000 years in the future, but what they're actually talking about is something that is [current]. They're no longer imagining a future. They're just talking about what upsets them in the present.”

Jonas: “By taking it into a utopian future, it gives you different ways of thinking about it, and now a lot of science fiction doesn't. It's like, here's future racism, exactly like now racism. As if to say, nothing will change, nothing will get better, nor can it. And it’s like, OK, great — why are we telling this story?”

The Talos Principle 2 will present decidedly humanist ideas in conversations with NPCs and general story beats, but it also makes room for other conclusions. The game’s respect for the human race extends to individual players, and the story will unravel in various ways depending on the choices each person makes and the interpretations they choose to follow. Diversity is one humanity’s greatest strengths, after all.

There are varying levels of engagement with the narrative, too — completing the game’s incredibly challenging golden puzzles, for instance, will unlock a “significant story payoff,” according to Jonas Kyratzes.

The Talos Principle 2 isn’t necessarily a game about utopian sci-fi; it just uses this direction as a backbone. The sequel takes players from sterile, Myst-like testing grounds filled with wildly tricky spatial puzzles, to a clean, shining city built by robots that act like and call themselves human. Robots that feel human. Robots that feel, full-stop.

“All of these things that we're all thinking about and arguing about are going into this game, and hopefully are reflected in the conversations inside that game,” Jonas Kyratzes said. “I would hope it's expressed as a story through characters who have personalities. The game is all of these things, but it's also a love story, as much as anything else. Multiple love stories. It’s intertwined love stories in a lot of ways, that's an undercurrent that's very significant. The ability of sentient beings to love, even if they are robots.”

A multitude of questions spawn from this premise alone. The Talos Principle 2 will invite players to test their own theories about consciousness, AI, sustainability and love in a meditative space. It doesn’t promise answers, but maybe it’ll inspire players to ask different questions about humanity’s future, just like sci-fi is supposed to.

Apple may have dominated this week's tech news cycle, but our featured tech deal of the week comes courtesy of Valve: The company has discounted its Steam Deck handheld by up to 20 percent, matching the all-time low for what we consider the best portable gaming PC for most people. Elsewhere, the Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 is $200 off with $50 gift card, severalAnkeraccessories are cheaper than usual and both Disney+ and Paramount+ are running special offers for new subscribers. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Valve Steam Deck

To celebrate Steam's 20th birthday, Valve has discounted its Steam Deck handheld by up to 20 percent. The entry-level model with 64GB of eMMC storage is down to $359, while the 256GB and 512GB versions with faster NVMe SSDs are on sale for $450 and $519, respectively. Each deal represents an all-time low. This is only the third discount we've seen for the Steam Deck since it arrived in February 2022, so this is a rare chance to save. Valve says this offer will last through September 21.

We gave the Steam Deck a review score of 81 at launch, and we currently call it the best portable gaming PC for most people in our gaming handheld buying guide. It's chunky, and some newer AAA games are starting to push its technical limits, but it offers far more power on the go than a Nintendo Switch, and its SteamOS software makes it much simpler to pick up and play than competing Windows devices. If you'd like to connect it to a TV, Valve's official Steam Deck Docking Station is also 20 percent off at $71.

Steam game deals 

Beyond the Deck, a handful of sales have brought several games we like down to lows or near-lows on Steam and other platforms. From our list of the best couch co-op games, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is down to $10, the platformer It Takes Two is down to $14, while the puzzler Portal 2 is down to a dollar. From our best PC games guide, the stylish roguelike Hades is available for $12, the VR shooter Half-Life: Alyx is available for $20, the sci-fi action game Control is available for $10 and the oddly zen driving sim Euro Truck Simulator 2 is available for $5. Other standouts include the Resident Evil 4 remake for $40 and the classic FPS Titanfall 2 for $3. Elsewhere, the action-RPG Final Fantasy XVI is down to $50 at Amazon, a $20 drop for a PS5 exclusive that arrived in June.

Anker accessory deals

A few notable chargers and USB-C hubs from Anker are also discounted this week. The Anker 621 Magnetic Battery, which snaps onto the back of a MagSafe-compatible iPhone wirelessly and delivers a 7.5W charge, is down to a low of $30. The Anker 321 MagGo Battery is a bit thicker and slower to recharge, but it has the same 5,000mAh capacity, and it's down to $21 with a 15 percent coupon. The 715 wall charger, a compact option with a 65W USB-C port, is available for $30 with a 40 percent coupon. That's about $20 below its usual price. If you need to add more ports to a computer, the 7-in-1 Anker 341 USB-C Hub is $11 off at $24. The 5-in-1 Anker 332 hub, meanwhile, is down to $16 with an on-page coupon. That's $9 below its typical street price, though the deal is only available to Prime members.

Disney+ (3-month)

New and returning subscribers can still grab three months of Disney+ for $6 total. That's a 75 percent discount. The catch is that this offer only applies to the service's "Basic" tier, so you'll have to deal with ads. Your subscription will also be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to remember to cancel if you don't want to pay beyond the discounted period. Still, if you've been meaning to check out Ahsoka, Andor or just old Simpsons episodes (again), this deal lets you do so on the cheap.

Paramount+ (1-year)

Along those lines, new users can take 50 percent off an annual Paramount+ subscription. The deal applies to both the ad-supported Essential plan, which is down to $30 with this deal, and the ad-free "Paramount+ with Showtime" plan, which is down to $60. As its name implies, the latter includes Showtime content, plus support for offline downloads and the ability to stream your local CBS station live. If you don't see the discount right away, use the code FALL at checkout. In general, Paramount+ isn't the most vital streaming platform, but its library is decent, with Champions League soccer, originals like Star Trek: Lower Decks and a bunch of shows from CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other Paramount networks. Again, just remember that the service will auto-renew unless you cancel. 

Logitech G203 Lightsync

The black version of the Logitech G203 Lightsync is down to $21 at Amazon, which is about $9 off its typical street price. Just clip the $5 coupon to see the full discount at checkout. The G203 is the budget pick in our guide to the best gaming mice, as it offers a relatively sturdy design, accurate enough tracking, responsive main buttons and tasteful RGB lighting. It's on the smaller side, its scroll wheel feels a bit mushy and its rubbery cable isn't detachable — but at this price, it's hard to do better if you just want something competent for as little money as possible.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

Best Buy is bundling the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 with a $50 gift card for $800. That's $200 off the foldable phone's list price. If stock runs dry, Amazon has the same discount without the gift card. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 only went on sale last month; we gave it a review score of 88, and we now call it the "best foldable for selfies" in our guide to the best smartphones. The big upgrade is a larger cover display, which makes the phone more useful for checking notifications, using apps and, yes, taking selfies when it's folded. You'll still have to be delicate with it, and its camera performance isn't on par with the best flagships, but the rest of the hardware is impressive. If you want a flip-style foldable, it's your best bet. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

In other Samsung deals, the 256GB version of the Galaxy Tab S9 is also down to $800 at various retailers. That's a price we've seen for most of the last month or so, but now you can get this model with a $100 Amazon credit for no extra cost. Just use the code PDHMT3LPAACC at checkout. At Best Buy, meanwhile, the tablet is available with a $100 digital gift card. This upgraded SKU also includes 12GB of RAM; for reference, the base model comes with 8GB of memory and half the storage.

The Galaxy Tab S9 series is the top Android pick in our guide to the best tablets. Like the larger (and pricier) Tab S9+ and Tab S9 Ultra, the 11-inch Tab S9 offers a gorgeous AMOLED display, IP68 water resistance, S Pen stylus support and excellent performance thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. It's still expensive, and Android remains less optimized for larger screens than iPadOS. Nevertheless, this is a luxurious piece of hardware for those who want a high-end tablet but want to avoid Apple land. 

SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless

The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless is on sale for $200, which is $50 off its usual going rate and only $10 more than its all-time low. This is a feature-rich, tenkeyless gaming keyboard we plan on recommending in a future buying guide. Its linear switches use magnetic Hall effect sensors, which let you adjust the actuation point of individual keys. That means you can make the keys faster and more responsive while gaming, then set them to be less sensitive while typing. A "rapid trigger" feature lets you re-actuate a switch mid-press, so you can repeat presses faster — handy for online shootouts where you're strafing back and forth. You can also bind two actions to one key based on how far it's pressed. For instance, you could lightly press Ctrl to crouch, then hold it down to go prone. 

SteelSeries isn't the only keyboard maker to implement features like these, and clearly, not everyone will need them. Plus, while the overall build quality of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless is good — with PBT keycaps, an aluminum top plate, a useful multifunction OLED display and multiple connection options — there are nicer typing experiences available for less. But some of these tricks can be genuinely useful if you spend lots of time in competitive-minded games, and this is one of the few wireless models to include them. The device also comes with a magnetic wrist rest.

Garmin Forerunner 745

The Garmin Forerunner 745 is available for $300, which is about $80 off its usual going rate. This is the "best for triathletes" pick in our guide to the best GPS running watches: It's a few years old, and its UI generally isn't as intuitive as Apple's watchOS, but it's easy to wear, it tracks distance accurately and it has a host of useful coaching and training features. 

Jabra Elite 3

The lilac version of the Jabra Elite 3 is on sale for $49 at Amazon, which is a $20 or so drop from its typical street price in recent months. We highlight this pair in our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds, and we gave it a review score of 88 back in 2021. Its modestly bass-boosted sound still impresses for the money, while its compact design and snug fit make it a nice companion for workouts. The downside is that it's fairly basic in terms of features, as it lacks wireless charging, multi-device pairing, wear detection and active noise cancellation. If you don't like the lilac finish, the dark grey model is available for $60, but that's not as strong a deal.

Amazon Echo Pop

The teal and lavender versions of the Amazon Echo Pop are down to $23. That's $5 more than the discount we saw during Amazon's Prime Day event in July but still $17 off the semi-circular speaker's list price. This is the new entry-level model in Amazon's smart speaker lineup. It doesn't sound as full as the spherical Echo Dot, and it lacks that device's motion and temperature sensors, so it's not as useful for pausing music by hand or controlling smart thermostats. However, if you just want the cheapest route into Alexa possible — and you can't wait for Amazon's next big sale — it still gets you most of the way there at a lower price. 

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Spider-Man is easily one of the most recognizable fictional characters of the last 50-plus years, appearing in countless iterations across comics, movies, cartoons, video games and other media I am surely forgetting. Fans will argue about the best iteration — but for my money, the Spider-universe Insomniac Games introduced in 2018 on the PS4 with Marvel’s Spider-Man is an all-time great. It spent no time rehashing Peter Parker’s origins, throwing the player into a vibrant and massive rendering of Manhattan. The city felt alive, with tons to do investigate and a horde of Spider-Man’s most famous villains to contend with. It also skillfully introduced a world in which Parker would eventually fight side-by-side with a second Spider-Man, Miles Morales.

But, most importantly, Marvel’s Spider-Man was an absolute delight to play. Insomniac nailed the mechanics of swinging around the city and fighting bad guys to such a degree that I think web-slinging around Manhattan is up there with my all-time favorite game mechanics.

As I’ve contemplated with other single-player, story-drive masterpieces from Sony like The Last of Us,Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War: What the helldo you dofor an encore? I played about two hours of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at a press event earlier this week, and it seems the answer is “go bigger.” That’s the same tactic used for the sequels to those three games I mentioned earlier, and the results were always impressive, if not a bit overstuffed. Of course, it’s too early to say whether Insomniac got the balance right, because we’ve seen plenty of open-world games that simply try and do too much. But based on Insomniac’s history and the excellent ingredients it has to work with, I have high hopes for the latest spider-adventure.

Insomniac Games

My demo started well into the game’s narrative — which I won’t spend too much time on, as I didn’t get the whole picture of what was going on. I do know that classic villain Kraven is hunting another iconic Spider-Man bad guy, Dr. Curt Conners (better known as the Lizard), and Peter and Miles are both trying to defend the city from Kraven’s hunters while also finding a cure to turn the Lizard back into his mild-mannered human form.

In a demo like this, getting a feel for the gameplay is a lot more important than digging into story beats, and Spider-Man 2 had plenty to show me. Because the world in this game is almost twice as big as the original, with the addition of Brooklyn and Queens, finding new ways for players to get around was a major focus for Insomniac. Enter the web wings, a tool that allows you to glide around the city, catching wind tunnels and updrafts that sling you around at high speed. It’s not meant to replace the core web-slinging mechanic, but augment it. Given how amazing swinging around Manhattan felt in the original games (and still feels here), that’s a tall order. But it didn’t take me long to get the hang of gliding through long stretches of the city, and mixing in web-swings to regain height.

Insomniac Games

The web wings are also particularly useful in places like Central Park or Queens, where there aren’t nearly as many tall buildings to swing from. Getting around Central Park always felt a little awkward in the first game, so this is a welcome addition that makes traversing different terrain much easier. It’s also great for getting across rivers — or doing battle on them. Gameplay footage revealed earlier this year showed both Spider-Men chasing the Lizard down a river while also being chased by Kraven’s hunters (both on the river and in the sky), and the web wings were crucial for catching up and dispatching the massive crew of baddies.

Another side mission saw me controlling Miles as he chased down one of Kraven’s drones — to keep up with it, you had to use the web wings to draft behind it while downloading data from it. Once you got all the data downloaded, you could take it down, but getting all that data takes a while. So you need to stay right on its tail, twisting and turning throughout the city. There’s definitely a learning curve to making tight turns and quick ascensions with the web wings, and I bounced off numerous buildings that slowed me down enough that the drone made its escape.

I got the hang of it after a few tries, but even then I was on the edge of my seat trying to keep pace – it almost had the feeling of a racing game. Challenges like this are a smart way of introducing these new mechanics and schooling players on how to best use them, though.

Unsurprisingly, combat has also gotten a few tweaks, though anyone who played the previous Insomniac games can jump right in here and start beating up the countless goons roaming New York City. Both Parker and Morales have four special moves that correspond to the four face buttons on the controller – holding L1 and pressing one of those buttons activates a special attack. When I was playing as Peter, they all involved the symbiote suit going wild, while Miles had variations on the electrical attacks introduced in his game. They charge up as you fight, and you have to wait for them to replenish; I assume you can also learn and slot new ones as the game progresses.

Insomniac Games

In the first games, mashing the circle button to dodge was a big part of combat, but Insomniac mixed things up here. Now, there are some enemies whose attacks you have to parry by pressing the block button at just the right moment – dodging won’t keep you safe. Other attacks require a dodge, as they can break through any parry or block you try. These different attacks are represented by a color flash above the enemy, indicating when it’s the right time to throw up a block or dodge away. Dealing with these attacks threw a wrench into the familiar gameplay, as it took me a while to remember that my old habits from prior games weren’t going to be enough to keep me alive here.

The gadgets both Spider-Men carry got a big improvement over the older games, too. Before, you could hold down R1 and switch from your standard web-shooters to various other hardware to help you in battle. But now, R1 defaults to web-shooters, always, a change I appreciated. From there, you can hold R1 and select a face button to activate a specific gadget.

This gives you immediate access to as many as four gadgets at once, plus your web shooter. Truth be told, I didn’t dive into the menus to find out much about the tools at my disposal, but they’re things like web bombs that wrap up multiple enemies or shock traps that zap everyone around you. Naturally, all these abilities can be leveled up with skill points you accumulate through the game, and there are the expected skill trees here as well.

It’s going to take more than just a few hours of playing to see just how well these new additions fit into the core game, but one thing was undeniable from the start: Spider-Man 2 is a visual feast. It’s the first game of the series developed exclusively for the PS5, and it shows in everything from the sunsets and water on the river to the details of the different spider-suits I tried on. Character models also look impressive, perhaps none more so than the Lizard himself, with glistening fangs and incredibly textured green skin. The amount of detail in that model was stunning, but Peter’s symbiote suit is a close second. When it gets hurt, it writhes in pain and truly feels like a living creature. Even when it’s just serving as a Spider-Man suit, the variety of textures and details is impressive – it’s a lot more than just a black outfit.

Insomniac Games

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this sequel, though, is the fact that you can control both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. When you’re in the open world and not directly in a main story quest, you can swap between the two Spider-Men at will by going to your communicator and holding down a button, GTA V style. Each character has their own main quests, and the game will move you back and forth between the two depending on what’s next on the docket, but there’s plenty of freedom to pick your character and explore NYC.

There are also parts of the story that’ll bounce you between both characters as things progress. We saw a look at this in the aforementioned gameplay preview a few months ago, but I got to play it out this time. The battle started with me playing as Peter, beating up some thugs in a Queens neighborhood, but then it switches to Miles across the city so you can get the jump on more hunters before they track the Lizard down. Peter eventually joins you, all hell breaks loose, and then you’re flying down the river taking out hunters on jet skis as Miles and bringing down a massive chopper as Peter.

All these changes were fluid and natural (but also very scripted) and the basic experience of controlling both Spiders-Man is similar enough that it didn’t throw me off. I am hoping that there are missions where you can decide which character you want to use, or flip between both depending on what play style you’re feeling at the moment. Regardless, having missions where you play as both significantly expanded the scope of this epic set piece.

Insomniac Games

The preview ended with Peter uncharacteristically going off on his own to track the Lizard down after he escapes into the sewers — he’s clearly showing some symbiote-inspired darkness that Miles says is totally out of character for him. But the demo didn’t stop, and I instead was treated to the only true “boss battle” of the demo, with Peter squaring off against Conners. This was a positively huge, multi-stage showdown that required me to use all the skills I picked up over the prior two hours, including a lot of well-timed dodging and all the special attacks I had at my disposal.

As with the big battles in prior Spider-Man games, there were multiple tricks I needed to figure out to make the Lizard vulnerable – just trying my standard set of attacks wasn’t going to be enough. I died a handful of times trying to get the hang of it, but fortunately these deaths didn’t feel cheap. Usually, it was a case of me not recognizing the need to dodge rather than block, or some other variation on me not executing a skill the game had taught me. Once I got the hang of things, I made semi-quick work of the Lizard. At least, I thought I did, until the demo ended on a big old cliffhanger that made me think Peter might pay a bit of a price for going rogue.

Fortunately, I won’t have to wait long to find out how things turn out – Spider-Man 2 will be out on the PS5 on October 20. We’ll have to wait to do a full review before we can give it a full recommendation, but I think anyone who enjoyed the first games will want to check this one out. And if you haven’t tried them before, you should be able to jump right into this new one without much trouble. While I enjoy the stories Insomniac has crafted for the two Spider-Men, the delight of swinging and fighting around NYC is still one of my favorite gaming experiences out there, and it’s one that doesn’t require an encyclopedic knowledge of Spider-Man’s history.