Month: December 2018

Every Xbox One bundle is $50 off right now in the United States, and this includes the higher-power Xbox One X consoles and the Fortnite bundle, Microsoft has announced.

The discount goes even deeper if you just want a console. The Xbox One X, which normally sells for $500 USD, is now available at retailers for $400 USD. Microsoft does not appear to sell the Xbox One S in a non-bundle, but you can get that system starting at $250 in bundles that come with games like Fortnite, Minecraft, NBA 2K19, Battlefield V, Forza Horizon 4, and PUBG.

The Xbox One X, meanwhile, has numerous bundles available going for $450, including those that come with Battlefield V, Fallout 76, PUBG, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 4, and others. You can visit the Xbox website to see a full rundown of all the Xbox One S and Xbox One X bundles.

It’s not just Xbox consoles that are on sale this holiday. Beginning on December 9, Microsoft is offering $10 off the Phantom Black and Sport White Xbox One controllers. Another deal Microsoft is offering is $10 credit for the Microsoft Online store when you buy three months of XBL Gold.

It’s not immediately clear when the Xbox One console and accessory deals will end, but Microsoft describes the offers as being available only for a limited time.

In the past, competitor Sony responded to Microsoft’s Xbox console deals with offers of its own, so it will be interesting to see if the company does so again this time.

So much can change in a year. This time last year, it was PUBG, dominating on Steam and sporting an exclusive deal with Microsoft for the Xbox One version, which was driving the most discussion and helping propel the battle royale phenomenon even further. Today, Fortnite is a veritable juggernaut on the level that few could have expected or even imagined. It is a bona fide hit that has been so unbelievably successful it’s spurred changes to long-standing policies within the industry and impacted wider entertainment culture.

Developer Epic Games started out the year by announcing it was effectively shutting down its previous game, Paragon, and offering refunds to everyone. The studio apologised for failing the game’s audience and not being able to deliver them the game they might have wanted. While this is sad for those playing the game and wanting to see it further developed, it appeared to have been a sensible business decision given Fortnite’s popularity. Epic (seemingly) narrowing its focus to cut loose non-Fortnite projects speaks to the popularity of the game, the scale it has reached, and the work necessary to deliver on that vision.

Another major early 2018 development for Fortnite was when the game launched for mobile devices. Fortnite’s mobile version has been a revenue juggernaut, reportedly making $2 million/day for a period of time, and a total of more than $300 million as of October–on iOS alone. Not bad for a game that is technically free. The Android edition of Fortnite, meanwhile, made headlines for how developer Epic released it. Instead of launching through Google’s own store, Epic decided to release it via its own website.

Most games need the visibility of the Google Play store to find an audience, but Fortnite is an exception, and in bypassing the store, Epic avoided paying Google its store fee. One estimate said Google missed out on $50 million or more because of this. The closed nature of Apple’s ecosystem relative to Google’s meant that Epic was forced to launch Fortnite through the App Store. This move was the first major example in 2018 of Epic flexing its muscles and leveraging the popularity of Fortnite to blaze its own trail. What’s more, the way in which in-game items and progress move between the mobile, console, and PC editions of Fortnite is relatively uncommon in the gaming world. It reflects Epic’s wider ambition to break down the barriers between platforms–and that’s something people seem to generally enjoy.

Another way that Fortnite impacted the gaming world in 2018 was related to policy changes among the established platform-holders. After holding out for more than two years, Sony finally allowed the PS4 to connect with outside networks for cross-play–but only with Fortnite for the time being. Fortnite being so popular that it pushed an established giant like Sony–in the midst of a hugely successful generation of hardware–to change its policies is truly a testament to how powerful Fortnite is. Epic also used its weight and clout to convince Nintendo to drop its weird requirement to use a phone for voice chat; with Fortnite, voice chat works natively. What’s more, all three major consoles–Xbox One, PS4, and Switch–have Fortnite-themed hardware bundles, which is the first time that’s ever happened in the world of gaming.

Companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo recognise how all-powerful Fortnite has become, and they’re bending to the will of a developer in a way this industry has basically never seen before. They say a rising tide lifts all boats, and the platform-holders surely see Fortnite as a means to help their own brands fly higher.

Fortnite also further demonstrated to the industry this that narrative can have a place in multiplayer-only games. Fortnite cleverly wove some amount of narrative into the experience through numerous in-game events and stories throughout the year. Take, for example, the time the sky began to rip apart. What did it all mean? Fans searched the world for clues, eventually culminating in Epic revealing a new item, the Rift, that allows players to teleport to a new location on the map.

Then there was impending comet–players saw it in the sky for weeks before it crashed onto the map, destroying Dusty Depot and leaving a massive crater with alternate gravity properties. There was also mysterious purple cube that one day simply appeared on the map, causing all kinds of wacky and weird things to happen. The cube, who was affectionally known as Kevin, eventually exploded, and sent players into an endless void. Epic’s genius is getting people to care about the Fortnite world outside of the moment-to-moment gameplay. It might not have been the first multiplayer game to feature compelling story elements, but the loose, ongoing narrative surely helped it to keep bringing players back.

In addition to expanding to mobile, Fortnite launched for Nintendo Switch this year, bringing the battle royale game’s presence to yet another major platform. Fortnite has been hugely successful on Switch. As part of an earnings report, Nintendo revealed that half of every Switch sold worldwide had Fortnite installed, which is a very impressive feat. Effectively, this seems to suggest that Fortnite may represent the kind of “killer app” that every platform needs to attract an audience. It further speaks to the power of Fortnite and the brand overall in that it can perform well no matter what platform it is on. The implication here is that, should Fortnite be able to remain popular, platform-holders like Nintendo (as well as Sony and Microsoft) may need to factor it in–in some capacity–for their future platforms.

Another way Fortnite impacted the larger gaming world this year was through its demonstration that delivering compelling new content on a regular basis can pay huge dividends. Epic releases new updates about once per week, introducing new modes, cosmetics, weapons, balance changes, and more. This helps make Fortnite feel fresh all the time–and it gives wavering players FOMO. This has surely contributed to the wider culture around Fortnite, especially among younger audiences who may feel compelled to keep coming back to see what’s new. There are countless challenges to complete, skins to unlock, and modes to play, and this heavy pull to come back to the game is surely beneficial to Epic in a business sense.

Some soury news around Fortnite came in May when PUBG Corp., the developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, filed a lawsuit in Korea against Epic. PUBG Corp. claimed copyright infringement due to the similarities between PUBG and Fortnite. However, PUBG Corp. later dropped the lawsuit, though it remains to be seen if there was a settlement and what the terms might have been. Epic was involved in a number of other lawsuits throughout 2018, some against it, and others it filed against players for cheating and other reasons. Given the size and stature of Fortnite, it’s no surprise that Fortnite has found itself embroiled in legal matters, but as of yet, the litigation does not seem to have had much of a public-facing impact on the game.

In better news for Fortnite, the game’s success and prominence entered another stratosphere in April when Fortnite announced a gigantic partnership with Disney and Marvel for an Avengers: Infinity War promo that saw Thanos come to the battle royale game. As further evidence of Fortnite permeating wider pop culture, Fortnite also partnered with Epic to bring jersey skins for all 32 NFL teams to the game for a limited time. More recently, players discovered Ralph from the Wreck-It Ralph film series in the game as part of what appeared to be a stealth-marketing campaign for the new film, Ralph Breaks the Internet.

These examples clearly demonstrate that major global brands recognise the value and power of being even tangentially associated with Fortnite–even if it’s just a marketing tool. In that way, Fortnite has became a platform of sorts through which massive, established brands want to be involved with. What Epic will need to be mindful of is ensuring the partnerships make sense and don’t come across as overly cash-grabby (though indeed Epic is surely profiting from these deals).

The mainstream attention on Fortnite also made the game a target. Fortnite caught some heat in November when Scrubs star Donald Faison called out the game for ripping off his “Poison” dance for an emote. Show creator Bill Lawrence acknowledged that someone from the Fortnite side reached out about using Faison’s dance, but in the end, Faison isn’t getting any royalties. Before that, rapper 2 Milly accused Epic of stealing his dance for a Fortnite emote. And before that, Chance the Rapper said he takes issue with Fortnite’s use of the dances in the battle royale game. “Black creatives created and popularized these dances but never monetized them. Imagine the money people are spending on these emotes being shared with the artists that made them,” he said back in July.

Fortnite’s dances are based on or inspired by the performances of real artists, and it would be good to see Epic take further steps to publicly and in a front-facing way acknowledge and respect the origins of the dance moves. Fortnite is making an unthinkable amount of money from microtransactions, so it is nice to see Epic pour some of it back into the game’s community. In June this year, Epic announced a massive investment for Fortnite esports competitions both big and small. Epic said it would put in a staggering $100 million into global Fortnite competitions. The gargantuan figure towers above what other games pay for their tournaments, but importantly, the $100 million covers every Fortnite competitive event in the 2017/2018 season, not just one. For example, Dota 2‘s The International 2018 event had a total prize pool of almost $25 million.

Epic’s massive investment was a smart move for the developer, too, as it pretty much guaranteed that top-level players would continue to play to earn a slice of that money, which in turn keeps people on their couches at home watching and supporting the base game overall.

Fortnite is a free game but it makes money from the cosmetics it sells through its in-game store. When something is successful, other studios take notice. Activision’s Call of Duty series added a battle royale mode of its own this year with Black Ops 4‘s Blackout. The mode features a progression system that seemingly borrows heavily from Fortnite’s battle pass and seasonal system. EA’s Battlefield V is also going to have a battle royale mode; it’s called Firestorm, and it launches in March 2019. Even Rockstar Games is taking notice; the studio released battle royale mode for Red Dead Redemption 2‘s online mode (though GTA V launched a battle royale mode for GTA Online all the way back in August 2017, so it’s not new for Rockstar). The point is that Fortnite, building off the success of PUBG before it, has impacted the larger gaming community right up to the top players. It’s an incredibly impressive feat, and it further demonstrates that oftentimes some of the most innovative ideas originate at small studios before catching on in a more mainstream way.

Fortnite’s insane success has also led to improvements in developer relations–at least for those who use Epic’s Unreal Engine. Thanks to the extra money Fortnite has brought in, Epic was able to shift its own revenue-sharing arrangement in a move that further benefits developers, and potentially in the end, consumers as well. Epic formerly used the industry-wide 70/30 percent revenue-sharing agreement with developers who used its Unreal Engine, but after Fortnite’s success, Epic changed the agreement to 88/12 with developers making more and Epic taking less. The 70/30 revenue split goes back more than a decade, and it’s implemented across digital stores for not only games, but other forms of media as well. Epic shifting the split so significantly could spur further change across media, or at the least encourage more developers to use Unreal Engine (which in turn benefits Epic in the longer run).

But just how popular is Fortnite? In June this year, Fortnite reached 125 million players, a figure that grew to 200 million as of November, an increase of 60 percent. This represents strong growth and even more evidence that Fortnite is no fad. There is no word on how the player population breaks down between platforms, but it’s easy to find matches everywhere, so you can imagine player figures are high across all systems.

Some of Fortnite’s other major achievements in 2018 included the game reaching an unthinkable and unprecedented 8.3 million concurrent players, Epic picking up a further $1.25 billion in venture capital funding, and celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Ellen, and the Saturday Night Live crew riffing on Fortnite during episodes of their shows. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox played the game so much this season that they had to remind themselves to eat. Some of the other notable stories around Fortnite this year include how Fortnite was cited in hundreds of divorce filings and how the mainstream media labeled the game addictive, violence-promoting, and damaging to young people. One story in particular said Fortnite was addictive in the same way that heroin is. It’s sad but not surprising.

2018 was Fortnite’s biggest and best year yet, but no game lasts forever. It will be intriguing to see how Epic plans to continue to shake things up and make the experience feel new and exciting in 2019 and beyond. Outside of its work on the Unreal Engine, will Epic become a one-game studio, pouring its resources into supporting and expanding Fortnite to make hay while the sun shines?

That would seemingly make sense for the time being, but I’d be surprised if the studio wasn’t at least in the planning stages on other new projects. After all, while Fortnite might be riding high today, no one expects it to stay on top forever.

What anime are you looking forward to in 2019?

2018 proved to be an incredible year for anime. We saw Netflix taking the initiative by funding and releasing original anime to their roster, brand new series like Megalobox, Aggretsuko, and A Place Further Than the Universe stand out, and the continuing adaptations of popular manga like My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan got what could be their best seasons yet.

But even with the amazing year in anime we’ve seen from 2018, 2019 is shaping up to be an even bigger year to get excited for. Netflix has a slew of strong anime lined up for its streaming service, which, if 2018 was any indication, will include some genuinely strong hits. Some of these are directed by well known anime studios, with Madhouse–animators of the first season of One Punch Man—tackling a new anime adaptation of Boogiepop and Others. We’ll even see the return of classic shows in a new way.

The shonen scene is strong too, with prolific anime series in their prime once again returning in 2019. Shonen Jump, the birthplace of Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Punch Man, and My Hero Academia will be getting yet another anime adaption from one of their serialized manga. Not only that, but we’re finally going to see the return of popular gag manga artist ONE’S major anime series, One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100. Fans have waited years to see the continuation of both of these series, and that long wait is finally coming to an end this upcoming year.

So, what do you have to be excited for in 2019? Check below for the Biggest Anime to Look Forward to in 2019. When you’re done, let us know what we missed, and what anime you’re most looking forward to. Then check out some of our other end-of-year lists, like the biggest comics to read in 2019, the best performances of the year, and the biggest horror movies to look forward to in 2019.

1. One Punch Man Season 2

When One Punch Man first hit the air, it was an immediate and resounding success. While the premise sounds ridiculous–Saitama, the world’s strongest superhero, can destroy anything in one punch–the show works on every single level. The characters are strongly written and hilarious, especially Saitama, who’s bored with how overpowered he is and dreams of a challenge.

As season 1 progressed, we learned about the Hero Association Saitama becomes a part of to earn some recognition for his heroic deeds. And just as the inner workings and turmoil within the Hero Association were being brought forth, the season came to an end. Finally, years later, Season 2 of One Punch Man will be releasing in 2019. While this is all great news, and the writing of the manga has held up for what will be the upcoming 2nd season, the anime has transferred studios from Madhouse to J.C. Staff. With how incredibly well handled the animation and direction was in Season 1, we’ll have to hope J.C. Staff can live up to the show’s high standards.

2. Mob Psycho 100 Season 2

If it wasn’t exciting enough that One Punch Man will be returning for a second season in 2019, series creator ONE’s other anime adaptation, Mob Psycho 100, will also be returning right at the start of the new year. Mob Psycho 100, similar to One Punch Man, follows the adventures of Shigeo Kageyama, referred to as Mob–an extremely overpowered Esper with such strong psychic abilities, he can utilize them to defeat anyone. Also similar to One Punch Man, the character writing is top notch. However, the similarities end there.

Mob is a student in Junior High who, outside of his psychic abilities, fails at just about everything else. He doesn’t want to rely on his powers to get ahead in life, seeks the attention of his lifelong crush, and works for a fraud psychic, Arataka Reigen. I cannot stress enough how incredible this series is, and studio Bones have done an amazing job with the animation. It’s my personal opinion Mob Psycho 100 exceeds One Punch Man, and this show alone makes 2019 an exciting year for anime.

3. My Hero Academia Season 4

My Hero Academia has quickly become one of the greatest shonen anime of all time. Not only is it an excellent anime, but also a top tier superhero tale rivaling any of the West’s best superhero offerings. Season 3 of My Hero Academia was its best yet, with Midoriya finally shouldering real responsibility as a hero at times, and amazing moments from All Might.

With the major success of My Hero, it’s not surprising that it was immediately greenlit for a 4th season. However, the release date is currently unannounced. There’s been speculation we’ll see a release April 2019, and with an optimistic viewpoint, we’re adding the show to this list, as it absolutely deserves to be here.

4. Attack on Titan Season 3, Part 2

After a somewhat slow second season, Attack on Titan’s latest season has ramped things up to a breakneck pace. In a blog post, Attack on Titan creator Hajime Iseyama explained he was unsatisfied with the pacing of this portion of his manga, and requested it be sped up for the animated version. This decision pays off in a big way, and what we find are major military and government secrets being revealed, more about the world outside and the way titans work explained to us, as well as a plethora of incredible battles for our viewing pleasure.

So without spoiling what we can expect for the second part of the third season, we did get a glimpse at some of the enemy titans at the end of Part 1. While Part 1 focused primarily on civil war and human vs. human, it looks like the titan action will be back. And if Part 2 is anything like Part 1, major revelations about the world are sure to be coming.

5. Revisions

While Netflix original animes are pretty hit or miss, this particular one looks like it could be a great new series. In Revisions, five students are transferred 300 years into the future through a phenomenon dubbed the “Shibuya Drift.” This future seems to be a wasteland filled with mechanical “Revisions”, huge robotic monsters that seem to be out to destroy them. The five are saved by a girl using a mobile suit “String Puppet”.

The premise sounds fun and the animation looks like a 2D/3D hybrid, which actually seems to work alright here, although time will tell. Definitely watch for this come January.

6. Kimetsu no Yaiba

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is another Shonen Jump manga that will finally be receiving an anime adaptation. The manga first began in 2016 and is still running today, focusing on Tanjirou Kamado and his sister Nezuko, who are the only survivors when demons come and kill their entire family. In order to avenge his family and save his sister, who has become a demon, Tanjirou decides to become a demon hunter.

7. Ultraman

While this isn’t strictly an anime, as it’s more of a 3D animation with an anime style, we’re putting this on the list as it’s based on a manga. For those who remember Ultraman, it was originally a Japanese live action series involving a member of the Science Patrol, Shin Hayata, transforming into the giant Ultraman in order to protect the Earth from giant Kaiju who come and attack it.

A manga sequel was released beginning in 2011, and it’s this manga that the upcoming Netflix animation is based on. This time around, Shin Hayata’s son, Shinjiro, discovers his father is Ultraman during an altercation with a fake, and that he has also inherited the powers of Ultraman. From the trailer, we seem him on a quest to save his father, the original Ultraman. Ultraman hits Netflix in April of 2019.

8. Boogiepop and Others

This is an interesting one. Boogiepop Phantom was a creepy and surreal horror anime that released in 2000, and was based on a late ‘90s manga. In Phantom, various High School students witness a pillar of light, which forces an evolution on them, culminating in dark happenings as many go crazy or suffer in other ways.

The manga series extended beyond the anime, and it seems the new show coming to Netflix will explore other sections of the manga not shown in the 2000 anime. A trailer was released by Studio Madhouse, who had also worked on the original, and as expected from the studio, the animation and artwork both look superb. If you’re in the mood for something creepy, Boogiepop should deliver.

With anime’s burgeoning popularity, it makes sense that the biggest streaming services would look into increasing their portfolio. This is something Hulu’s planning to do, as the streaming giant’s recently announced that it has partnered with Funimation to bring a bunch of new shows to the platform at the same time they air in Japan.

According to a report by Variety, the deal will begin in 2019. While this Funimation partnership will produce new, original anime for Hulu, it also gifts the platform the entirety of Funimation’s catalog, including already-streaming shows like One Punch Man, Sword Art Online, and more than 600 others in both dubbed and subbed formats. With this contract finalized, it means Hulu will be the only place to watch both dubbed and subbed versions of popular anime like Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia.

This partnership comes just a few months after Crunchyroll and Funimation’s breakup. While together, the sites worked hard to simulcast anime in both English and Japanese. In doing so, select anime, such as Overlord, had both options available the same day as their Japanese release. After nearly two years working together, the two decided to end the relationship on November 9. Since then, Funimation has not been part of the VRV bundle, a subscription package with dozens of animation streaming services such as Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, and Machinima.

Last year, it was announced that Sony Pictures Television acquired Funimation for approximately $150 million. Thanks to the purchase, it seems Funimation plans use Sony as a launchpad to further distribute anime “through [Sony’s] global footprint of television networks and existing digital offerings.” It remains unclear how the Hulu/Funimation partnership will affect Funimation acquisition by Sony.

The Halo TV show has lost its director.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is nearly here, and if you want to start playing the second it’s made available, you need to buy yourself a digital copy. But what if your Nintendo Switch is almost filled up? You could get rid of some of the stuff you have cluttering up its 32GB of internal memory, or you could take advantage of these micro SD card deals at Amazon right now.

Of course, these aren’t just Nintendo Switch micro SD card deals. If you have an Android phone, camera, drone, 2DS/3DS or other device that accepts micro SD, this is a great opportunity to expand their capacity as well.

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After the Friends confusion on Netflix over the weekend, Netflix will reportedly pay around $100 million to keep licensing the show from WarnerMedia, its current owner, according to The NYTimes.

In the past, Netflix’s licensing deal for Friends was at $30 million per year to be able to stream the series on its platform. The deal was reportedly up by the end of 2018, with Netflix and AT&T – WarnerMedia’s parent company – both in negotiations for months trying to extend it.

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What was your favorite Netflix exclusive of 2018?

In 2018, Netflix remained the undisputed leader of streaming platforms, at least as far as public perception goes. And what matters more than that? Granted, Netflix has achieved its current top status by throwing everything it can at the wall and seeing what sticks. But throw enough, and that strategy will periodically pay off.

Just look at the shows and movies on this list, which spans Netflix originals as well as programs exclusive to Netflix streaming. There’s something here for everyone, whether you’re into dark horror, insane action, adorable anime, or irreverent comedy. 2018 on Netflix saw everything from new films from great directors, like Gareth Evans’ Apostle, to a new comedy special that marked a return to form for one of the greats with Adam Sandler’s 100% Fresh.

And we’re not even scratching the surface here. Continue through the list to find out what the GameSpot team thought the best Netflix originals of 2018 were. When you’re done, let us know what we missed, or what you agree or disagree with, in the comments below. Then check out some of our other end-of-year lists, like the biggest comics to read in 2019, the best performances of the year, and the biggest horror movies to look forward to in 2019.

1. Apostle

Apostle is the latest movie from The Raid: Redemption director Gareth Evans, and it saw him move from martial arts madness into dark horror territory. Apostle is set in 1905, and stars Legion’s Dan Stevens as Richardson, a man who infiltrates a religious cult on a remote island with the intention of rescuing his kidnapped sister. This is very much a movie of two halves, and the first plays out more like a spooky mystery than a straight horror movie, as Richardson becomes part of this deeply religious society.

But if the main influence of the first half is creepy British folk-horror films like The Wicker Man, then the rest simply tosses everything else into the mix. The movie leaves the realm of the “real” and embraces the supernatural, throwing in some horrific torture, surreal, nightmarish imagery, and even a couple of bone-crunching fights along the way. It’s inevitable that this throw-it-at-the-wall approach will create elements that don’t always work; the climactic scenes feel a little rushed, and even at 130 minutes, there are plot points that seem a little under-explained. But in an era of generic, formulaic horror, there weren’t any other movies quite like Apostle in 2018. — Dan Auty

2. Outlaw King

This historical epic focuses on a particularly brutal period of British history, and tells the story of Robert the Bruce, who was appointed King of Scots and led the ultimately successful campaign against the English in the early 14th century. Chris Pine takes on the lead role; he might be best known for playing Captain Kirk in the recent Star Trek reboot movies, but his portrayal of the angry, determined Robert is impressive. He has relatively little dialogue, and none of Kirk’s wise-cracking charm to fall back on, but is convincing as a man who will stop at nothing to protect his family and reclaim his country (his accent is pretty good too).

Outlaw King is superbly directed by David MacKenzie, who delivers some exciting set-pieces and hugely impressive battle scenes alongside the drama. The climactic Battle of Loudoun Hill, as the two sides clash in unforgiving marshland, drenched in rain, mud, and blood, is both thrilling and incredibly brutal. The movie has its flaws–the story often feels rushed–but it is worth watching, particularly on the biggest screen you can find.–Dan Auty

3. Maniac

Maniac is one of the most complex, challenging shows of 2018. It’s a sci-fi comedy drama, loosely based on a Norwegian show of the same name, with The Leftovers’ Patrick Somerville showrunning and True Detective Season 1’s Cary Fukunaga directing every episode. It’s is set in alternative retro-futuristic New York, and stars Jonah Hill and Emma Stone as Owen and Annie, two damaged people who submit themselves to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial for different reasons. The trials involve the subjects entering hallucinatory states, and almost immediately Annie and Owen’s start to overlap, suggesting some unique bond between these two strangers.

As the series continues we see them in a variety of imagined situations, from a 1940s heist caper to a Tolkien-esque land of elves and fairies. But the boundaries between reality and fantasy frequently break down, with dialogues, faces, music, and events occurring in different contexts as Annie and Owen attempt to traverse the inner worlds of their psyches. And if that sounds like heavy going, it often is. But Maniac is also funny, sad, joyous, moving, exciting, and completely unlike anything on screens in 2018. Hill and Stone are equally matched by Justin Theroux and Sonoya Mizuno as the unhinged doctors leading the experiments, and Sally Field as Theroux’s mother, a bestselling motivational therapist who maintains a strange emotional hold over her son. Maniac is one of those shows where it’s almost impossible to predict where each episodes is going to go next, but the 10 episodes are so brilliant and unique you’ll want to start it again the moment it finishes. — Dan Auty

4. Ugly Delicious

Ugly Delicious is one of the best travel/food shows on television. Yes, on its surface, it is another show where a host heads to different places on the globe, eats food, and gives their unique perspective on culture and everything else. However, Ugly Delicious drastically stands out because host David Chang isn’t just showing off that he knows a lot about food (and he totally does, but that’s besides the point). He’s connecting food we know and love in America to the rest of the world. How does the rest of the world eat fried chicken and what are its roots in America? What’s the deal with Louisiana and crawfish? What’s it like to deliver pizza? It’s the perfect blend of information, history, and fun, while giving insight into the one thing that bonds everyone on this planet: food. — Mat Elfring

5. Wild Wild Country

Wild Wild Country is a trip. Debuting in early 2018, the 6-part docuseries follows the events of the Rajneesh movement and its move to rural Antelope, Oregon in the early 1980s. The group bought a piece of land outside of a town of 60 people and built a small city, bringing in 7,000 new residents. From there, things get weird and very, very dark.

This is a layered story about power corrupting the innocent, power struggles within a group that borders on cult status, murder plots, drugs, sex orgies, and conspiracy theories–many of which are true–told by the people from the movement and from those living in Antelope when their town was invaded. You will find yourself bingeing it all in one sitting as the story is incredibly engrossing and hard to believe. I spent a lot of time looking up old news stories about the Rajneesh movement after watching Wild Wild Country because I simply couldn’t believe all of this happened. — Mat Elfring

6. The Toys That Made Us

If there’s one thing Netflix gets right more often than not, it’s documentaries. The streaming service is overflowing with feature-length documentaries and multi-part series that dig into a number of different topics. The Toys That Made Us, though, is one of the most exciting. It dives deep into the weird, wild, and sometimes very silly stories behind some of your favorite toys from your childhood.

This eight-part series serves as a fun examination of the things you’re nostalgic for and what makes you nostalgic for them. It’s also crazy to realize how how close to failure practically every major toy was at some point. We’re looking at you, GI Joe. — Chris E. Hayner

7. Cam

This gripping chiller was one of the most original horror movies of the year. It’s set in the world of adult web cams, and focuses on Alice, a cam girl who’s life is changed when someone–or something–with her name, face, and live cam login starts occupying her channel. On paper, Cam’s mix of sex and horror suggests that it will be an exploitative film, but while it’s definitely disturbing, it also presents a sensitive, intelligent view of the live web cam industry as well as some insightful observations about how we interact with modern technology.

Cam it is definitely a horror film, but it ultimately has more in common with the surreal work of David Lynch and the tech-satire of Black Mirror than a more conventional scary movie. There are no jump scares and there’s little violence, and most of the movie either takes place in daylight or in the brightly-lit glare of Alice’s studio. But for horror fans bored of the clichés and predictable scares of the genre, Cam is an ambitious, scary treat. — Dan Auty

8. The Night Comes For Us

You won’t see a more brutal action movie this year than this Indonesian epic, and providing your tolerance for broken limbs and spraying arteries is high, you’re unlikely to see a better one too. The Night Comes For Us is directed by Timo Tjahjanto, who previously collaborated with The Raid: Redemption director Gareth Evans, and it features several stars from the Raid movies (including the amazing Iko Uwais).

This story of a former killer hunted by his old gang is ostensibly a martial arts movie–while there is some gunplay, most of the fighting is hand-to-hand (or knife-to-throat) combat in small spaces. But Tjahjanto is careful never to give us the same scene twice and delivers a series of inventive set pieces and showcasing an impressive range of weaponry. There’s guns and knives, but also saws, bones, wires, wine glasses, nails, and pool balls; basically, if a character in this movie can hold it, they can kill someone with it. For anyone looking for an action movie that pushes the genre and delivers some of the most jaw-droppingly violent fight scenes ever filmed, The Night Comes For Us more than delivers the bloody goods. — Dan Auty

9. Bodyguard

Bodyguard is a BBC political thriller available in the US on Netflix, credited by The Guardian as “the biggest drama hit in the UK in more than a decade”. Once you watch it, it’s easy to see why. It sucks you in and demands a binge watch. Bodyguard tells the story of David Budd (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden), a war veteran turned Police Sergeant. He gets assigned to specialist protection detail for Home Secretary Julia Montague, whose controversial politics clash directly with his own. David has two children with his wife, whom he is separated from but longs to reunite with.

The series hooks you in from the start as David singlehandedly deals with a suicide bomber on a train, which his children are also riding in. From there we learn that David is a complex character who wears many faces–maintaining professionalism and authority on the job as he protects someone he despises, silently suffering from PTSD and reluctant to take part in a support group, being a loving father to his son and daughter, and messily drunk dialing his estranged wife on a regular basis.

Star Richard Madden delivers a spectacular star-making performance. He exudes the trauma and sadness lingering within David, while captivating us as a take charge action hero in the line of fire. The series is well paced, keeping the audience enthralled by the salacious drama, tense action, and brewing conspiracy within its six episodes. — Chastity Vicencio

10. Nailed It!

The Great British Baking Show makes baking look deceptively easy. While it should be lauded for encouraging thousands of us to get into the kitchen and try our hands at making our own showstoppers, it didn’t necessarily do a good job of setting us up for (inevitable) failure when we try these dazzling projects ourselves. A lion made of bread? Easy. A Bavarian clock tower made from gingerbread? A walk in the park.

The harsh reality: split custards, runny mousses, and the dreaded soggy bottoms.

Which is why we’re so glad Nailed It! exists. It’s a baking competition where amateurs attempt to recreate elaborate bakes from Pinterest. Think insane fondant work, photorealistic cakes, and inventive and unexpected use of candy. The thing is, these bakers are set up for failure in the best way–they’re in on the joke that they’re not supposed to be able to recreate these masterpieces. Host Nicole Byer’s infectious laughter alleviates stress among the contestants, and honestly, watching the professional chef guest judges try to find things to compliment in the disasters they’re presented is absolutely hilarious. You’ll breeze through both seasons (and the Queer Eye special) in no time. — Lucy James

11. Hold the Dark

Jeremy Saulnier followed his dark thrillers Blue Ruin and Green Room with this bleak, ambitious Netflix movie. It’s set in a small Alaskan town, where a young mother is coming to terms with the the abduction of her child by a pack of wolves. She contacts renowned a wolf expert to track and kill the animal that took her child, but with her soldier husband on the way home from Iraq, a bloody reckoning is inevitable.

With a superb cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Riley Keough, and a terrifying Alexander Skarsgård, Hold The Dark is a stunningly acted, intense, and ambiguous movie. The striking locations, stunning cinematography, and droning music help create an environment that is unforgiving and almost otherworldly–while nothing actually supernatural happens, at times Hold the Dark feels like more of a horror movie than a straight thriller. But that’s not to say it’s always a slow-paced, open-ended mystery. Saulnier might like his narrative ambiguity, but he also loves to deliver visceral action, and there are moment of shocking violence, including a harrowing, brilliantly-directed shoot-out sequence. For those who like their thrillers to provoke and challenge as well as thrill, Hold the Dark is an impressive achievement that isn’t quickly forgotten.–Dan Auty

12. Adam Sandler 100% Fresh

Adam Sandler hasn’t exactly been in his prime for some time. But watching 100% Fresh is a welcome reminder of why we loved the comedian in the first place, from his days on Saturday Night Light to his irreverent ’90s comedies that we once upon a time just couldn’t stop quoting. This stand-up special’s unique editing style sends us jumping around between countless different shows, from small intimate venues to huge auditoriums. But the material is the same at each one: Personal stories about his family, short ditties that end with unexpected punchlines, and epic ballads like the heart wrencher he sings about Chris Farley at the end. You’ll laugh–and probably cry, too–and finally feel good again about being an Adam Sandler fan. — Mike Rougeau

13. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

The first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina really caught us by surprise. It’s nothing like the TGIF sitcom we remember. Instead, it’s like someone took Riverdale and injected a lot of Satan and a fantastic cast. Sabrina has a gothic horror aesthetic and a supply of spooky creatures running through it as it unravels the story of a young girl torn between two worlds–the mortal world and the witching world. It’s the kind of adaptation modern Sabrina comics deserve and, thankfully, it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Season 2 is currently in production. — Chris E. Hayner

14. Daredevil Season 3

Lapsed fans of the Netflix Marvel universe finally have a reason to return to the fold: Daredevil Season 3. The original season of Netflix’s Daredevil series set a high bar that most of the subsequent shows, from Luke Cage all the way to Defenders, failed to match. But thanks to a new showrunner and the return of fan favorite villain Wilson Fisk, Daredevil Season 3 somehow did the impossible and actually surpassed the show’s first season to become the best season yet from Netflix and Marvel’s uneven collaboration. The fact that it’s since been canceled should only make us value this final, fantastic season more. — Mike Rougeau

15. Big Mouth Season 2

Big Mouth Season 2 was the perfect follow-up to Season 1. It’s still a disgusting, puerile, way too honest examination of puberty in all its terrible forms. But also like Season 1, the new episodes pack in an incredible amount of heart and character development for a show that stars a boy who f***s his pillow, personified incarnations of the protagonist’s pubes, and an invisible monster who constantly urges teenagers to masturbate. Big Mouth has proved to be the perfect playground for today’s top comedians, from Nick Kroll and John Mulaney to Jenny Slate, Jordan Peele, Jason Mantzoukas, Fred Armisen, and countless more who provide their voices and talents. And best of all, when you’re done watching it, you’ll have dozens of disgusting new euphemisms for sex, chief among them “making thick in the warm.” Ew, but also, fantastic. — Mike Rougeau

16. GLOW

There is rarely content about sports entertainment not produced by WWE that doesn’t mock it. However, Netflix’s GLOW is a show that bridges the gap for both fans and the casual person who only knows who Hulk Hogan is. While Season 1 played heavily to wrestler cameos and establishing what wrestling is, Season 2 evolves and focuses primarily on how to run a TV series. What worked well in Season 1, like character relationships as well as the creative process that is wrestling as a whole, gets expanded for this year’s showing.

It’s a comedic struggle as this season revolves around characters trying to find out where they fit in this world. Is Ruth/Zoya merely a performer or is she destined for something greater? It all really comes together in Episode 8, where viewers are treated to a full episode of the wrestling program they’ve been working on, which is the most ’80s thing on Netflix. Sorry, Stranger Things. — Mat Elfring

17. Ozark Season 2

If you haven’t checked out Ozark, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s Breaking Bad but with Jason Bateman instead of Bryan Cranston. But this blue-hued white collar crime drama continued forging its own corpse-strewn path with this year’s Season 2, and the show has proved to be one of Netflix’s best originals. The Byrde family just keep digging themselves deeper, and in Season 2 it became abundantly clear that they’re not getting out any time soon. The season succeeded in particular thanks to a talented cast of female characters, including Julia Garner’s Ruth Langmore, Lisa Emery’s Darlene Snell, and most of all, Laura Linney’s Wendy Byrde. These actresses flip with apparent ease from badass to menacing, from gut-wrenching emotion to shocking violence, and they help make Ozark one of Netflix’s best originals. — Mike Rougeau

18. The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House if scary, sure. It’s filled with jump scares, hidden haunts that you won’t see until it’s too late, and so much tension that you’ll spend the entire time on the edge of your seat. More importantly, though, The Haunting of Hill House is an impeccably made family drama.

While it belongs firmly in the horror genre, what makes this Netflix original so special is that it’s not the scares that drive it. Instead, it’s the story of this family falling apart in the aftermath of a traumatic event and being forced to reckon with it years later. It’s hard not to feel for every member of the Crane family as they confront their demons, both literal and figurative, in an attempt to simply live their lives. You’ll come for the jump scares but what will make you stay is how engrossed you’ll become in the Crane story. — Chris Hayner

19. Everything Sucks

We already know that Everything Sucks isn’t getting a second season, but we can still enjoy the quaint, heartfelt ’90s high school romantic comedy we got at the start of this year. In our review of the show, we said that ’90s nostalgia is only the bait: “Everything Sucks is actually less a Freaks and Geeks rip-off, and more an adorable gay high school romance.” Yes, they listen to Oasis and run away to a Tori Amos concert, but there’s much more to it than cheesy ’90s references, and the romance that blossoms between Peyton Kennedy’s Kate Messner and Sydney Sweeney’s Emaline is truly touching. — Mike Rougeau

20. Devilman Crybaby

Netflix has been moving slowly into the world of anime over the past couple of years, and Devilman Crybaby was the first out of the gate in 2018. It’s a new adaptation of Go Nagai’s classic ’70s manga and subsequent anime series Devilman, about a teenager who becomes possessed and transformed into an avenging demon with a pure human heart. Devilman Crybaby takes this basic storyline but brings it right up to date, embracing the age of social media and web journalism. It’s directed by modern anime master Masaaki Yuasa, best known his insane movie Mind Game, and is packed with some of the most extreme content ever to hit Netflix. It’s provocative and explicit, a sometimes funny but often disturbing collision of sex, gore, and demonic madness. — Dan Auty

21. Black Mirror Season 4

Since getting a new lease on life after being picked up by Netflix, Black Mirror continues to get darker and more twisted. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the show’s fourth season, which debuted at the very end of 2017. Despite balancing the season with “lighter” episodes such as Hang The DJ, Season 4 made waves with the gruesome Black Museum, as well as Crocodile, a cautionary morality tale about the impact of surveillance, which delivered some of the darkest moments in the show’s history. Season four also experimented a lot more with tone and format, with the black and white horror episode Metalhead, as well as the feature-length homage to Star Trek, USS Callister. It’s clear that series creator Charlie Brooker isn’t running out of ideas anytime soon, so we dare only dream of the horrors he’ll come up with for Season 5. — Lucy James

22. The Dragon Prince

The Dragon Prince is a show equivalent to an excited dog on a leash who’s just been let out for a walk. It hasn’t had the opportunity to reach its stride yet, but it’s pulling us in a lot of directions with interesting characters, a beautiful art style, and the promise of an epic saga on the scale of its creator’s previous work, Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s a shame the first season was so short, but we’ve only just left the house, and there’s a whole world out there for us to explore. — Nick Sherman

23. Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 turned 30 years old in 2018, and it got a second season on Netflix as well. Titled “The Gauntlet,” Jonah, Crow, and Tom Servo riff six movies that are simply unwatchable. Yes, it’s more of the same that you’ve seen in the past, but by “The Gauntlet,” fans feel very comfortable with Jonah at the helm as well as with the new voices for Crow and Tom. Right off the bat, the season nails it out of the park with the 1988 E.T. ripoff Mac and Me and follows it with the 2013 Pacific Rim ripoff Atlantic Rim, which is a movie about characters saying “look at that” without the camera ever showing what’s just offscreen. The Netflix run has such a broad appeal and wide array of jokes and quips that appeal to classic MST3K fans and a younger audience as well. Who doesn’t love funny people making fun of bad movies? There’s a reason this show has been around–in one way or the other–for 30 years. — Mat Elfring

24. BoJack Horseman Season 5

Over the course of its five seasons, BoJack Horseman has evolved from a surreal, Family Guy-esque comedy, filled with bizarre non-sequiturs and cutaway gags, to one of Netflix’s best Originals: balancing cutting commentary on modern Hollywood (or “Hollywoo”) culture with crushing emotional beats. It constantly messes with your expectations, using exceptionally creative framing devices to tell stories (see the episode Free Churro to see the show at its heart-wrenching best), as well as delivering devastating plot lines that resonate deeply.

BoJack Horseman must have been a weird sell to Netflix: An animated show about a washed-up, depressed horse. But it constantly proves that it’s one of the most creative, emotionally-driven shows out there, and if you have a Netflix subscription, is not one to be missed. — Lucy James

25. Altered Carbon

In our review of Netflix’s Altered Carbon early in 2018, we called it “a new cyberpunk masterpiece.” For sci-fi fans, its accomplishments are almost innumerable. It manages to establish a living future brimming with complexity, from AI poker games held in cyber space to the all important Cortical Stack, a spinal implant that’s made society’s upper crust all but immortal.

The narrative possibilities that come from these science fiction conceits are mind-blowing, but it still wouldn’t be much of a show if it weren’t for an engrossing story involving the mysterious temporary death of one of Earth’s richest citizens, as well as gripping performances from lead actors including James Purefoy, Martha Higareda, Chris Conner, Kristin Lehman, and especially Joel Kinnaman, who injects a surprising amount of feeling into a protagonist who in another actor’s hands might have been just a beefed-up super soldier. Altered Carbon may go a little too far off the rails in its final episodes, but the world is so incredibly drawn that the journey is worth taking regardless. — Mike Rougeau

26. Lost in Space

Lost in Space might not have taken up as much space in your TV subconsciousness as some other shows this year. After all, Netflix released a lot of shows in 2018. That said, it was simply one of the most entertaining exclusives the streaming service had to offer. This adaptation put a modern spin with great visual effects on the old TV series and left us wanting more by the time Season 1 was finished. Between the exciting worlds it’s building, the chemistry between the Robinson family, and the fact that literally anything that could go wrong will in a heartbeat, what’s not to love?

Seriously, though, the characters on this show have the absolute worst luck and any plan they come up with to save the day will definitely blow up in their faces. That’s pretty entertaining to watch, especially since it seems none of them will die from it. — Chris E. Hayner

27. End of the Fucking World

Netflix had yet another hit on its hands with The End of the F***ing World at the start of 2018. Originally released on the UK’s Channel 4 and based on a graphic novel series by Charles S. Forsman, End of the F***ing World followed James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden), a pair of troubled teenagers who run away together to escape their miserable home lives. But there’s one thing Alyssa doesn’t know: James, who’s apparently a psychopath at 17, is planning to murder her.

Granted, that sounds like it could be quite a short program. But over its brief first run of episodes, EotFW revealed a pair of much more complex characters whose goals might not actually be as simple as “I want to murder you.” Given where the series left James and Alyssa, we’re looking forward to seeing what happens in Season 2. — Mike Rougeau

28. Castlevania Season 2

The first season of Netflix’s Castlevania show was really more of a teaser than a full season. Over just four short episodes, it established the main characters and conflict and gave us a taste of the action, with the promise of more to come at a later date. Season 2 expanded on that promise, even if it didn’t fully realize it until the very end of its still-too-brief eight episodes.

Castlevania Season 2 follows characters on two fronts: Dracula’s court, and the small crew fighting against him. The latter consists of familiar faces: Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), Alucard (James Callis), and Sypha (Alejandra Reynoso), all of whom we met in Season 1. Taken on its own, Season 2 has a bit too much build-up, but the payoff in the penultimate episode–when everything finally comes together and the Castlevania fan service peaks–makes it well worth the price of entry. We’re already looking forward to Season 3. — Mike Rougeau

29. Aggretsuko

Based on a series of web shorts that introduced Sanrio’s “Aggressive Retsuko” a few years ago, Aggretsuko’s full length anime debut on Netflix was by no means a sure thing. Sure, the title character, a disgruntled but good-natured red panda who hates her job and doesn’t know what to do about it, is adorable and relatable. But does the show’s main gimmick–that mild-mannered Retsuko takes to karaoke bars by night to spew shrieking death metal–really have the legs to support a whole show?

The answer, it turns out, is hell yes. The incongruous blend of adorable, Hello Kitty-style anime and outrageous death metal is surprisingly endearing. And when it all comes together in episodes like the rap battle between Retsuko and her literal pig of a boss, you’ll be glad Retsuko has an outlet for all that rage. — Mike Rougeau

30. B: The Beginning

B: The Beginning is one of a slew of original anime Netflix approved for 2018. This suspense anime contains a mixture of science fiction and fantasy elements, as well as some mystery with our primary characters being detectives solving the case of a serial killer. The cast of detectives have their individual quirks, and it’s fun to watch them interacting with each other as they expertly solve the cases in front of them. And when the conflicts ramp up, the anime contains some excellently animated and exciting action segments–from car chases to fantastical duels–which further elevate this show. Netflix has renewed B: The Beginning for a second season, and for good reason. — Dave Klein