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With Lisbeth Salander heading to theaters in a soft reboot of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise, there’s something different about the titular character in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. This time around, Lisbeth Salander is empowered and she’s righting wrongs at every turn she can. In fact, she has quite a bit in common with another vigilante that dresses in black: Batman.

In the movie, Lisbeth, played this time around by Claire Foy, is very reminiscent of the Dark Knight. From her penchant for dressing in black and hiding in the shadows, to her use of high tech gadgets, it’s easy to draw a line between the two–Lisbeth even gets her own Batmobile, sort of. Even director Fede Álvarez sees a potential connection to the Caped Crusader. “It does probably go back to Batman,” he said. “Maybe also because in that first scene they ask her, ‘Who are you?’ which takes me back to the first trailer of Tim Burton’s Batman.”

It’s not just surface level traits that might remind you of the DC Comics vigilante, though. Like Bruce Wayne and his caped alter ego, she’s also a tortured soul.

For Álvarez, showing this version of Lisbeth, as an incredibly flawed human being trying her best to make the world better, is what mattered most. “It was important because I don’t like heroes usually,” he told GameSpot. “I don’t do heroes in my movies. I might introduce them like one but then part of the story is always going to show the human being behind that. I’m interested in seeing the real human being behind the flawed human being. That’s what the movie does, in a way. It starts there, but then, as you know, it just starts going deeper and deeper to who they truly are.”

He’s not wrong. The Girl in the Spider’s Web delves deep into Lisbeth in an attempt to explain the person she’s become and why she fights the battles she does. As with Batman, it’s childhood trauma that has largely contributed to the person she’s grown to be, a lot of which is explored in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. More than that, though, as fans of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, there’s far more to Lisbeth than her childhood.

It’s this kind of flawed humanity that, for Foy, makes the character so interesting to play. “I don’t think she’s a superhero because she bleeds when you cut her,” the actress said. “It’s very obvious that she’s a human and that the only superpower she has, in a way, I suppose, is her brain. She knows she’s not strong enough to fight all of these men but she’s able to think faster than them and act quicker. She will always fight to the absolute bitter end. She will be clawing her way out.”

While it may be more action-oriented than previous installments of the franchise, The Girl in the Spider’s Web is by no means a superhero film. Instead, for Álvarez, this is the story of a flawed woman who is still learning about the world, even as she tries to save it. “I like to relate to characters through their mistakes, rather than through heroic acts,” he said.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is in theaters on November 9.

When The Girl in the Spider’s Web arrives in theaters, it’s going to tell a very different kind of stories than fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo may be expecting. Thus far, the films in the franchise–four in total–have cast Lisbeth Salander in a secondary role to journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

This new installment from director Fede Álvarez puts the spotlight directly on Lisbeth, played by Claire Foy, with Dragon Tattoo protagonist Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) settling into the role of sidekick. When asked about that choice by GameSpot, Álvarez explained, “It was the reason to make the movie, really. For me, it was the reason to make the film. For a character that is such a feminine icon, suddenly I realized most of those movies she’s just the sidekick, almost. She’s the coolest character in those movies and those stories but she’s usually there to serve the man’s story.”

Knowing the focus would shift to Lisbeth is what made Foy sign on in the first place. “I hadn’t seen that before in the previous movies, and I was really interested,” she said. “I think if he [Álvarez] had tried to make it exactly how it was before, it would have been kind of a useless exercise, really. But he had a new take on it and an idea of how he’d like to approach it.”

And that new take was the perfect fit for The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The book it’s based on, which is written by David Lagercrantz, delves into the childhood of Lisbeth and introduces her sister as the primary antagonist. It’s a story that wouldn’t make sense told any other way. “This is the perfect opportunity because this is a story you can tell 100% from her point of view,” Álvarez said.

In doing so, there’s a potential for even more films of the franchise that follow the exploits of Lisbeth. As we previously discussed with both Álvarez and Foy, this new film turns the titular Girl in the Spider’s Web into something of a Batman-like figure, a vigilante that works in the shadows to right wrongs as she sees fit.

What remains to be seen is what any further films would be based on. Spider’s Web is the first of Lagercrantz’s two novels in the Millennium series. The author took over the book franchise following the death of Stieg Larson, who wrote the first three entries–The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest–each of which was adapted into a movie in Sweden. In 2011, David Fincher rebooted The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for American audiences, with Rooney Mara (Lisbeth) and Daniel Craig (Mikael) starring. In theory, any of those three books or Lagercrantz’s The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye could be adapted into the next chapter of the current series, but with a stronger focus on Lisbeth.

Whether any of that happens, though, depends on how audiences react to this new Lisbeth Salander. Find out for yourself when The Girl in the Spider’s Web hits theaters on November 9.

Hunt legendary animals in Red Dead Redemption 2 to craft special outfits and trinkets.

Tales of the Wild West.

It’s incredibly easy to miss out on Red Dead Redemption 2‘s most interesting side-events and secret encounters. With the involved main story taking well over 50 hours to complete, it can often be challenging to pull yourself away from the plot to venture off to places that house strange and fascinating side events. In addition to many callbacks to the original game, featuring the return of key locations and characters, several of these moments showcase Red Dead 2’s weird and morbid side.

In this feature, we’ve rounded up a number of side events, Easter eggs, and references that speak to the amount of diversity and sheer attention to detail that Red Dead Redemption 2 has hidden in its world. A word of warning, however: Given that some time has passed since the release of the game, we’ve decided to include things from later part of the story–particularly some events of the epilogue. Spoilers follow.

Whether it’s chance meetings with ghosts, a UFO, or even a vampire, the open world Western always tries to keep things interesting for those that want to dive a bit deeper. If you want to know more about what you can find in the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, including many of the hidden weapons and the legendary animals, or if you just want to hear more of our thoughts on the finer details of the game, be sure to check out our continuing coverage–which includes our weekly show Quickdraw, highlighting many of Red Dead 2’s important details and features.

The Meteorite

In one of the more short encounters, you can stumble upon the aftermath of small meteorite impact. Located just northeast of Roanoke Valley and Annesburg, you’ll find an isolated home with smoke seeping out of a hole in its roof. Once inside the house, you’ll find a group of corpses near a small crater in the center of the room. Approaching the crater will allow you to pick up a meteorite, which evidently killed the unsuspecting people inside. After leaving the home, Arthur will make a note of the event in his journal. While you’re free to hang onto this rock from outer space, you can also sell it for cash.

The Ghosts of Lemoyne

While each region has its own fair share of oddities, the area of Lemoyne is particularly rife with supernatural activity–which you can witness when walking around in the late hours of the night. In the western part of Bluewater Marsh at approximately 2 AM, you’ll hear hysterical ravings from a person in the wild. As you venture deeper in, you’ll see a glowing figure wearing a white gown off in the distance. This ghost will relive her last moments alive, shouting out into the darkness for help. If you try approaching the ghost, she’ll vanish into thin air. With three different stages, each encounter will become progressively more morbid, revealing how she died and why she continues to haunt the area.

In addition to the wandering ghost, there’s also a runaway phantom train that haunts the tracks in the early morning. While exploring the area around the tracks just northwest of Scarlett Meadows at around 3 AM, you can hear the faint sound of a train echo through the night. But instead of an actual train, you’ll see the ghostly image of one racing through the dark. Unlike the other ghost, this train can be approached, and you can even ride through it on your horse. The train won’t stay around for long, however. After riding on the tracks for some time, the phantom train will disappear before your eyes.

The UFO And The Cult

There is a ruined chapel located in the eastern section of New Hanover. If you enter around 2 AM, you’ll find a morbid scene with several dead members of a cult. Together, they sought to commune with an otherworldly being who only showed at night. After reading the diary of the cult leader, you’re given some hints on how you can trigger one of the game’s most bizarre events, which manages to push Red Dead 2’s weirdness up by several degrees.

You can learn more details on where you can find the church, and how you can trigger this close encounter by checking out our video on this particular event.

The Plague Town

To the northwest of the Lagras swamp, you can find an abandoned town named Pleasance. With some callbacks to Tumbleweed in Red Dead Redemption 1 and to the viral horror in Undead Nightmare, Pleasance is a town with a lot of history behind it, but we’re left with only minor details to piece together what happened in this tucked-away town. On the doors of the town barn, you’ll find a large message stating “Stay Out, Plague.” Nearby, you can also find the town graveyard, offering up some details on the lives of the former residents. Aside from a note shedding some light on the town’s past, there isn’t much else to uncover–leaving the rest to your imagination.

The Elusive Bigfoot

As something of a running joke from previous open-world Rockstar games, encountering Bigfoot has been something that many fans have expected since the first hoax in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Though Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare DLC finally offered a chance to meet the fabled creature, it didn’t end particularly well for the Sasquatch, resulting in one of the more tragic missions in the game. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 features some nods to those encounters, leading up to a surprisingly bittersweet moment. Though you can find several sets of Giant bones throughout the world which strongly resemble the fabled creature, it’s possible to meet with one of the last remaining Sasquatch.

In order to have a meeting with Bigfoot, make sure you have examined over 30 animals, which you can check in your compendium. After that’s done, head to the Calumet Ravine, located just east of the Wapiti Reservation. On the west side of the ravine, you’ll see a flock of birds near the water. They’ll immediately fly off in unison after you get close enough, and you’ll need to follow them as best you can. Eventually, they’ll take you to a remote cave to the east. Once you arrive, you’ll hear voice echo out from a nearby cave which is inaccessible to you.

While conversing with the cave-dweller, who is no doubt the reclusive Bigfoot, you’ll learn more about why they’re in isolation. After finishing your chat, you can return several days later to check up on him and pick up where things left off. You’ll never actually see Bigfoot in-game, though it is refreshing to have a surprisingly human chat with the Sasquatch, who just longs for friendship.

The Scientist and His Creation

Like in Red Dead Redemption 1, you’ll encounter peculiar individuals who toy with machines that inevitably lead to their downfall. Once you arrive in Saint Denis during Chapter 4, you’ll come across a character named Marko Dragic, a foreign inventor who seeks to master the forces of life and death through electricity. Starting up the Stranger mission The Bright Bouncing Boy, you’ll complete several tasks for him in the area before he returns to his lab located northwest of Annesburg. If you meet him there, he’ll give you another mission where you’ll have to help him harness lighting to give life to his ultimate creation–a walking, talking robot.

If you return later, you’ll find Dragic’s lab in shambles and the robot missing. In the lab, you’ll find an electric lantern, which will help you track the walking machine. In order to find the machine, return to Colter–the abandoned town from the opening chapter–and head up the mountains to the west. The lantern will glow orange when facing in the direction of the lost robot. Once you reach the top of the cliff overlooking Colter, you’ll find the the lost machine sitting alone–calling out for his “papa.”

The Vampire of Saint Denis

Saint Denis is an incredibly dense and populated town, offering up a lot of interesting opportunities to uncover in the back alleys. However, there’s one terrifying encounter that will take some work to find, leading to a surprising confrontation with a creature of the night. Throughout the city are clues written on the sides of structures. These clues will eventually point you towards the location of a vampire. Though this event may seem like it’s totally out of place in Red Dead 2, the build up to this moment, where you learn more about the location and the residents of Saint Denis, makes it an incredibly tense and satisfying event to see play out.

For more details, be sure to check out our guide on finding the vampire of Saint Denis.

The Shack in the Woods

Though this is a very brief encounter, this isolated shack in the woods has a very tragic history to it. Just west of Braithwaite Manor in Lemoyne, you’ll come across a small community near the water. While in the village, you’ll hear incensed ranting from someone in the nearby forest. Heading slightly south, you’ll come to a shack with chains wrapped around it. The voice inside becomes louder when you approach, and when you decide to examine it, a hand will reach out and try to grab Arthur.

If you take the time to listen to her dialogue, you’ll find out that she’s one of Braithwaite family’s long held secrets–they abandoned her due to her mental illness and physical deformities. Unfortunately, there’s no way to free her from her confinement. If you encountered the woman prior to the epilogue, returning again during the end-game will see the woman dead in the shack, long forgotten after the fall of the Braithwaite family.

The New Hanover Serial Killer

In the game’s most gruesome encounter, you’ll come face-to-face with one of Red Dead 2’s most ruthless villains. Just southeast of Valentine, you can find the first location of a ritualistic murder, displaying the mutilated corpse with the words “Look upon my works” written on the nearby rock. From here, you’ll be able to uncover other clues to uncover the identity of the serial killer roaming New Hanover and nearby regions. Solving the mystery eventually leads to a shocking confrontation with the murderer.

For a more in-depth guide on how to track and take down this Wild West serial killer, be sure to check out our guide.

The following slides include late-game spoilers. Proceed with caution.

[Spoilers] John Can’t Swim

Anyone who’s played through Red Dead Redemption 1 can attest to John Marston’s incompetence in large bodies of water. When he would get too deep, he’d die instantly. Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, however, is a far more reliable swimmer, and he’s very quick to remind John of that while speaking with him. During some story missions and while hanging out at camp, Arthur and other gang members will tease John for his inability to swim.

While this can be seen as a subtle nod to the original game, there’s a bit more to it than just a throwaway joke. During the game’s Epilogue chapters, you’ll shift perspective to John Marston, and you’ll likely figure out during the worst possible time that John still can’t swim. If you ever find yourself in deep water, John’s stamina cores will drain instantly, putting him in immediate danger. Though this can come off as bit of a hassle, especially after many hours playing as Arthur Morgan, it is still a humorous–if cruel–reminder of a real danger from the first game.

[Spoilers] I Know You

Throughout Red Dead Redemption 2, you’ll see many callbacks to some memorable locations and people from the first game. Aside from the members of the Van der Linde gang, you can hear some characters speak about Landon Ricketts–the legendary gunslinger from RDR1–and even Bonnie MacFarlane, referenced in a letter found in Annesburg. Though New Austin and the town of Blackwater are barred off from the Van Der Linde gang for much of the game, you’ll eventually return during the Epilogue chapters when playing as John Marston. John and his family will get accustomed to living a normal life on their ranch at Beecher’s Hope. You can even visit many areas from the previous game to see just how different they were in the time before his next adventure.

While visiting the town of Armadillo in New Austin, you’ll be able to run into several characters whom you might know from Red Dead Redemption 1. In the general store, you’ll meet up with Herbert Moon, the abrasive and anti-semitic owner of the place. Behind him on the shelf is a picture of another familiar fellow, the Strange Man from Red Dead 1’s infamous “I Know You” side mission. John will even make a comment about knowing him, but can’t quite place exactly from where.

Editor’s note: This is an early take on Battlefield V for PC; a full review is in the works but we will require many more hours to fully engage and evaluate everything the game has to offer. The overall opinion is subject to change through the review process.

The Battlefield series has always been about capturing the scale of war, and Battlefield V delivers as expected. Large maps made of both open fields and narrow lanes pit players in chaotic fights to capture objectives and deplete the enemy respawn count. Different classes empower soldiers with specific capabilities that provide distinct advantages in the right situations. And of course, tanks and aircraft not only change gameplay dynamics, but can swing the tide of battle in deft hands. The initial impression is that Battlefield V revels in familiarity–this entry doesn’t stray away from the franchise formula, but it’s a fine execution thus far.

It’s been a while since the franchise set foot in World War II, but this time, it does so with lesser-known conflicts at the forefront. It’s oddly refreshing to discover aspects of history that go overlooked. While we’ve had a steady diet of the snow-covered Narvik map prior to release, the game’s collection of landscapes are varied set pieces. The lush vegetation of Western Europe and the harsh deserts of North Africa present beauty in the wake of utter destruction–all these battles have been inspired by the history books and realized in a refined Frostbite engine, which has never looked better. However, the maps themselves have their limitations.

Conquest has always been Battlefield’s staple. Two huge teams fight to control capture points across a sprawling map, which helps hasten the drain of the enemy ticket count. It’s a time-tested mode, but it also highlights the shortcomings of a few maps. I can admire the spectacle of Fjell 652 and the tight firefights that take place around the capture points, but navigating the map’s narrow paths hasn’t been much fun. Narvik’s capture points encourage a variety of encounters with regards to distance, elevation, and space, but rather than flowing together, the maps feel like a collection of disparate parts for the sake of enabling these types of engagements. Metropolitan maps have certainly worked in the series’ past, but Rotterdam hasn’t been a great showcase of Battlefield V’s strengths as matches can easily devolve into tedious shootouts on city streets.

If you’re caught out of place, you’ll be punished–in other words, you’ll be shot in the back and flanked from unsuspecting locations frequently. While it can grow frustrating, overcoming seemingly hopeless scenarios is part of the process.

Grand Operations takes you into war-like scenarios that set teams up for a series of three consecutive matches, each in a different game mode and map (or variation of a map) from the same theater. This mode can be a big time commitment, but it has been the best part of Battlefield V so far, as Grand Operations keeps up the momentum and shakes up gameplay just enough to retain players through the course of the whole set of matches. The light contextualization of what both sides are trying to accomplish that goes into each phase helps (ever so slightly) paint a more enticing picture of multiplayer, rather than having you unceremoniously jump into the fray.

Success in Battlefield V very much depends on being at the right place at the right time. If you’re caught out of place, you’ll be punished–in other words, you’ll be shot in the back and flanked from unsuspecting locations frequently. While it can grow frustrating, overcoming seemingly hopeless scenarios is part of the process. Adapting to situations that develop on the field and being a helpful teammate are further encouraged by the four returning classes: Assault, Medic, Support, and Recon. So far, it seems like a small tweak helps to bring out teamwork–squadmates can revive each other regardless of class, without negating the importance of Medics since they can revive anyone and dole out additional health packs.

Player progression is dispersed in several ways. For one, you have career progression, which is your simple overall rank. Then there’s class progression, which paves the way for unlocking equipment to further customize your loadout. And lastly, both weapons and vehicles contain their own progression paths. There appears to be a lot of systems at work, but rewards seem fairly lean outside of skins and individual weapon perks.

Microtransactions are currently absent from the game, so we can’t comment on the business model yet. However, you earn in-game currency called Company Coins, which appear to be mainly for acquiring cosmetics like soldier uniforms and weapon camouflage. A few things like weapon perks cost Company Coins, but thankfully they’re cheap and require you to reach a certain level beforehand.

The game’s not a multiplayer-only endeavor with the return of War Stories, the single-player campaign offering that debuted in Battlefield 1. It serves as a tool to acquaint yourself with the basics of the game while providing grounded perspectives from contrasting theaters of war. Battlefield V itself starts not on a main menu, but in a playable teaser of each vignette from War Stories. Part of me wants to fully accept the sincerity that’s trying to be communicated through the narration and cutscenes, but I can’t help but feel it veering off into melodrama to a fault. I’ve only touched on the English campaign, but I’m hoping it makes good on the humanizing tone it appears to go for.

Battlefield V can be rough around the edges. Player models can clip through the world’s geometry, sometimes sending bodies into a ragdoll frenzy. You may see teammates get revived only for their character model to frantically zip 20 feet in another direction. As of now, servers have occasional instability in terms of performance and packet loss (which causes choppy motion in-game). Thankfully, I haven’t experienced hard crashes or drops from servers.

The initial impression is that Battlefield V revels in familiarity–this entry doesn’t stray away from the franchise formula, but it’s a fine execution thus far.

As of now, it feels as if Battlefield V is a variation on a well-established theme. It maintains the series tradition of grand spectacle with incredible sound design, impactful weaponry, and large-scale multiplayer chaos. There’s a lot more to dig into, like the fortification system, squad reinforcements perks, and how destruction may change map dynamics, and spending more time with the game will paint a better picture. At the end of the day, it’s still Battlefield, and Battlefield V is shaping up to be a good one at that.

Here are some of the things we absolutely adore about Red Dead Redemption 2 for PS4 and Xbox One.

The first season of Mayans M.C. wrapped up with a handful of fun callbacks to Sons of Anarchy. Join Chris E. Hayner has he reveals his favorite SAMCRO easter eggs from FX’s Mayans.