HBO Max in November means the arrival of Will Smith's King Richard - the film based on the true story of Richard Williams and his quest to guide his daughters - Venus and Serena - into the record books. It will dive deep into Williams' 78-page plan to help his daughters reach the dreams he knows they can.

November is also a great month for TV fans as it will see the premiere of The Sex Lives of College Girls, a new show created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble that follows four college roommates as they navigate New England's Essex College as a "bundle of contradictions and hormones." This month also will see the arrival of all six seasons of Dawson's Creek, the 52nd (!) season of Sesame Street, a reboot of Head of the Class, and the second season of South Side.

There will also be a four-part documentary called Black and Missing that will become available later this month and will dive deep into the mission of sisters-in-law and Black and Missing Foundation founders Derrica and Natalie Wilson to "fight an uphill battle to bring awareness to the Black missing persons cases that are marginalized by law enforcement and national media."

Such classic films as Caddyshack, A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, Hotel Rwanda, Pride & Prejudice, The Bourne Identity, The Queen, will also join HBO Max throughout the month.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for the highlights of HBO Max's November 2021 offerings, followed by the full list:

November 1

• The 90 Day Plan, 2020
• A Good Day To Die Hard, 2013 (Extended Version) (HBO)
• A Very Brady Sequel, 1996 (HBO)
• Adult Beginners, 2014 (HBO)
• Aftermath, 2017 (HBO)
• Area Chica Infierno Grande (aka Hell In The Goal Area), 2021 (HBO)
• Bully, 2001 (HBO)
• Caddyshack, 1980
• City Of Ghosts, 2003 (HBO)
• A Clockwork Orange, 1971
• Company Business, 1991 (HBO)
• Cry Wolf, 2005 (HBO)
• Cymbeline, 2015 (HBO)
• Dead Heat, 1988 (HBO)
• Disturbing Behavior, 1998 (HBO)
• Doom, 2005 (HBO)
• Dressed To Kill, 1980 (Extended Version) (HBO)
• Equilibrium, 2002 (HBO)
• Eyes Wide Shut, 1999
• Executive Decision, 1996 (HBO)
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, 2011 (HBO)
• Full Metal Jacket, 1987
• Godsend, 2004 (HBO)
• Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
• Hotel Rwanda, 2004 (HBO)
• In the House
• Lady In White, 1988 (HBO)
• Love And A .45, 1994 (HBO)
• Moonstruck, 1987 (HBO)
• Murphy's Law, 1986 (HBO)
• Never Let Me Go, 2010 (HBO)
• New Year's Eve, 2011
• Practical Magic, 1998
• The Parent 'Hood
• Pride & Prejudice, 1995 (HBO)
• Rush, 1991 (HBO)
• Showtime, 2002 (HBO)
• Something New, 2006 (HBO)
• Spark: A Space Tail, 2017 (HBO)
• Still Waiting, 2009 (HBO)
• Summer School, 1987 (HBO)
• The Bourne Identity, 2002 (HBO)
• The Bourne Legacy, 2012 (HBO)
• The Bourne Supremacy, 2004 (HBO)
• The Brady Bunch Movie, 1995 (HBO)
• The Care Bears Movie, 1985 (HBO)
• The Conspirator, 2011 (HBO)
• The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1981 (HBO)
• The Next Three Days, 2010 (HBO)
• The Presidio, 1988 (HBO)
• The Purge, 1988 (HBO)
• The Queen, 2006 (HBO)
• The Rules Of Attraction, 2002 (HBO)
• The Transporter, 2002 (HBO)
• The Wolverine, 2013 (HBO)
• Thelma & Louise, 1991 (HBO)
• Transporter 2, 2005 (HBO)
• Unleashed, 2005 (Director’s Cut) (HBO)
• Waiting..., 2005 (HBO)
• Weightless, 2018 (HBO)
• What's The Worst That Could Happen?, 2001 (HBO)
• Witness, 2012 (HBO)
• Wildcats, 1986
• Wristcutters: A Love Story, 2007 (HBO)

November 2

• Single Mother By Choice, 2021
• Son of Monarchs, 2020
• Tokyo Revengers, (Subtitled) (Crunchyroll Collection)

November 3

• This is Not a War Story, 2021

November 4

• Aida Rodriguez: Fighting Words, Max Original Special Premiere
• Frayed, Max Original Season 2 Premiere
• Gen:Lock, Max Original Season 2 Premiere
• Head of the Class, Max Original Series Premiere
• Rap Battlefield, Max Original Series Premiere

November 5

• Las Niñas (aka Schoolgirls), 2020 (HBO)

November 6

• Land, 2021 (HBO)
• The Story of Late Night, 2021

November 8

• Dawson's Creek
• Noblesse (Subtitled and English Dubbed) (Crunchyroll Collection)

November 9

• Billy on the Street, Seasons 2-5
• Dear Rider: The Jake Burton Story, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

November 11

• A Thousand Fangs (aka Mil Colmillos), Max Original Series Premiere
• Doom Patrol, Max Original Season 3 Finale
• Love Life, Max Original Season 2 Finale
• My Sesame Street Friends, Max Original Season 2 Premiere
• Reign of Superwomen, Max Original Documentary Premiere
• Selena + Chef, Max Original Season 3 Finale
• Sesame Street, 2021 Library
• South Side, Max Original Season 2 Premiere

November 12

• A Cinderella Story: Starstruck, 2021
• Back on the Record with Bob Costas, Season Finale

November 13

• Boogie, 2021 (HBO)
• Darwin's Yearbook
• Final Space, Season 3
• United Shades of America, Season 6

November 14

• Kamikaze, Max Original Series Premiere
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Season 8 Finale (HBO)

November 15

• TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- (Subtitled) (Crunchyroll Collection)

November 18

• Craftopia, Max Original Season 2B Premiere
• Comedy Chingonas, Max Original Special Premiere
• The Sex Lives of College Girls, Max Original Series Premiere
• Sort of (CBC), Max Original Series Premiere
• Tom and Jerry in New York, Max Original Season 2 Premiere

November 19

• The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, 2019
• King Richard, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021 (Only available on the $14.99/month Ad-Free plan. Streaming in the US only for a limited time. Available in 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in English only on supported devices.)
• Real Time with Bill Maher, Season 19 Finale (HBO)
• Stath Lets Flats, Season 3

November 20

• 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Special Premiere (HBO)

November 23

• Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

November 25

• The Cut, (aka O Grande Look), Max Original Series Premiere
• Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 3
• La Pasión de Maradona, Max Original Film Premiere

November 26

• How to With John Wilson, Season 2 Premiere (HBO)
• Inside Man, 2006 (HBO)

November 28

• Anna Karenina, 2012 (HBO)
• Axios, Season 4 Finale (HBO)

November 29

• We're Here, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

Coming Soon

• 8-Bit Christmas, 2021
• A Choice Of Weapons: Inspired By Gordon Parks, Documentary Premiere (HBO)
• Black and Missing, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO)
• Gossip Girl, Season 1 Part B Premiere
• Life of Crime 1984-2020, Documentary Premiere (HBO)
• Music Box: Jagged
• Music Box: DMX: Don’t Try to Understand
• Sesame Street, Season 52 Premiere

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

A speedrunner has managed to beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in under four minutes. Thing is, they managed the impressive feat without even using the full release of the game.

As spotted by Polygon, a speedrunner going by the username Savestate uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing their run of the N64 classic. Using a demo version of the game loaded from inside Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii, Savestate managed to complete the game in an immensely impressive 3 minutes and 41 seconds.

Within the speedrunning community, games have a number of categories that users can attempt speedruns in. Savestate's attempt at the game is classed as an "Any%" run, which essentially means that a player is able to use various bugs, glitches, and exploits to finish the game as quickly as possible. The speedrunner's time is almost half that of the full version of Ocarina of Time's world record, which currently stands at 6 minutes and 49 seconds - although there are significant differences between the full version and the demo included in Smash Bros. Brawl.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii came loaded with a number of short demos that allowed players to dip into the franchises that the game had taken its fighters from. The Ocarina of Time demo accessed by Savestate grants players the freedom to explore the N64 classic as they please but cuts playtime off after five minutes - a factor that likely doesn't matter when you're attempting to complete the entire game in under four.

Perhaps due to its five-minute playtime, the demo comes with a few differences to the official release version of the game that make it a lucrative option for speedrunners. Not only does the demo skip the entire beginning of Ocarina of Time, instead opting to start players off at the Temple of Time, it also comes with a number of pre-loaded items that can come in useful when it comes to shaving off valuable seconds on a run.

Unfortunately for Savestate, while the run may be of world record pace in its own right, Speedrun.com doesn't yet include a separate category for the Brawl demo that the run was completed on. With the two versions of the game being so different, the time won't affect the current "Any%" standings for Ocarina of Time - though either way, it's a pretty spectacular effort.

For more nostalgia-fuelled reading, make sure to check out this article where we counted down the top 25 games that were released for the N64. Alternatively, to delve further into the world of speedrunning take a look at this piece detailing how Spelunky's world record holder was recently exposed as a cheater.

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

A speedrunner has managed to beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in under four minutes. Thing is, they managed the impressive feat without even using the full release of the game.

As spotted by Polygon, a speedrunner going by the username Savestate uploaded a video to YouTube showcasing their run of the N64 classic. Using a demo version of the game loaded from inside Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii, Savestate managed to complete the game in an immensely impressive 3 minutes and 41 seconds.

Within the speedrunning community, games have a number of categories that users can attempt speedruns in. Savestate's attempt at the game is classed as an "Any%" run, which essentially means that that a player is able to use various bugs, glitches, and exploits to finish the game as quickly as possible. The speedrunner's time is almost half that of the full version of Ocarina of Time's world record, which currently stands at 6 minutes and 49 seconds - although there are significant differences between the full version and the demo included in Smash Bros. Brawl.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii came loaded with a number of short demos that allowed players to dip into the franchises that the game had taken its fighters from. The Ocarina of Time demo accessed by Savestate grants players the freedom to explore the N64 classic as they please but cuts playtime off after five minutes - a factor that likely doesn't matter when you're attempting to complete the entire game in under four.

Perhaps due to its five-minute playtime, the demo comes with a few differences to the official release version of the game that make it a lucrative option for speedrunners. Not only does the demo skip the entire beginning of Ocarina of Time, instead opting to start players off at the Temple of Time, it also comes with a number of pre-loaded items that can come in useful when it comes to shaving off valuable seconds on a run.

Unfortunately for Savestate, while the run may be of world record pace in its own right, Speedrun.com doesn't yet include a separate category for the Brawl demo that the run was completed on. With the two versions of the game being so different, the time won't affect the current "Any%" standings for Ocarina of Time - though either way, it's a pretty spectacular effort.

For more nostalgia-fuelled reading, make sure to check out this article where we counted down the top 25 games that were released for the N64. Alternatively, to delve further into the world of speedrunning take a look at this piece detailing how Spelunky's world record holder was recently exposed as a cheater.

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

Facebook rebranded as Meta last month, but a PC company already called Meta has something to say about that.

According to TMZ, another company already filed to trademark the word "Meta" back in August. This company is Meta PC, and it sells computers, laptops, tablets, and software. Founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt said that they've been operating Meta PC for a little over a year now, but only recently filed to trademark the "Meta" brand.

pic.twitter.com/ttn9VkgZVv

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

However, Meta PC's trademark hasn't been granted yet, so whether the company gets it instead of Facebook is still up in the air. However, Darger and Shutt also said that they will relent on the trademark if Mark Zuckerburg is willing to pay at least $20 million.

Luckily, the founders also have a sense of humor. Meta PC's Twitter account posted a meme of Zuckerburg holding one of the company's products and presenting its logo. Additionally, Schutt posted a joke video of him announcing Meta PC's new name, rebranding the company as "Facebook."

In related news, photos of Meta/Facebook's Apple Watch rival leaked last week.

an announcement regarding our new name from our founder @zackshutt pic.twitter.com/I7tofqPa6Z

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Facebook rebranded as Meta last month, but a PC company already called Meta has something to say about that.

According to TMZ, another company already filed to trademark the word "Meta" back in August. This company is Meta PC, and it sells computers, laptops, tablets, and software. Founders Joe Darger and Zack Shutt said that they've been operating Meta PC for a little over a year now, but only recently filed to trademark the "Meta" brand.

pic.twitter.com/ttn9VkgZVv

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

However, Meta PC's trademark hasn't been granted yet, so whether the company gets it instead of Facebook is still up in the air. However, Darger and Shutt also said that they will relent on the trademark if Mark Zuckerburg is willing to pay at least $20 million.

Luckily, the founders also have a sense of humor. Meta PC's Twitter account posted a meme of Zuckerburg holding one of the company's products and presenting its logo. Additionally, Schutt posted a joke video of him announcing Meta PC's new name, rebranding the company as "Facebook."

In related news, photos of Meta/Facebook's Apple Watch rival leaked last week.

an announcement regarding our new name from our founder @zackshutt pic.twitter.com/I7tofqPa6Z

— META PCs (@METAPCs) October 28, 2021

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

EA and DICE have offered an in-depth look at how Battlefield Portal, the create-your-own-Battlefield-experience tool that will be available in Battlefield 2042, works. The details reveal just how flexible the system is, from allowing faithful recreations of fan favourites such as Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, to Frankenstein-like mashups that bring in weapons, rules, and maps from multiple different legacy games.

Battlefield Portal will use a web browser interface, allowing for easy set up of custom modes. The Portal can be accessed even if you don’t own Battlefield 2042, meaning you can still create games and share them with friends that do own the game.

Creating an ‘Experience’ in Battlefield Portal requires completing a variety of steps, starting with choosing a game mode. Portal offers the classic roster of Battlefield modes; Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. These can be played on a variety of classic maps, and you’re not limited to the ‘right’ number of players for each one; for example, Noshahr Canals: Container Area can be played with 128 players (on PC and new-gen consoles), despite being designed for far fewer combatants.

Portal features 13 small maps and 13 medium maps, plus 7 large maps that can only be played on PC and new-gen consoles. Among them are fan favourites including Arica Harbor, Caspian Border, and Battle of the Bulge. The full list can be seen below.

Small Maps

• Discarded: Recycling Yard
• Hourglass: Al Salam Park
• Breakaway: Platform
• Kaleidoscope: Data Center
• Manifest: Caju Operations
• Orbital: Crawlerway
• Renewal: Fields
• Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith
• Arica Harbor: Town
• Valparaiso: Village
• El Alamein: Axis Airfield
• Noshahr Canals: Container Area
• Caspian Border: Gas Station

Medium Maps

• Discarded
• Hourglass
• Breakaway
• Kaleidoscope
• Manifest
• Orbital
• Renewal
• Battle of the Bulge
• Arica Harbor
• Valparaiso
• El Alamein
• Noshahr Canals
• Caspian Border

Large Maps

• Discarded
• Hourglass
• Breakaway
• Kaleidoscope
• Manifest
• Orbital
• Renewal

With the mode and map locked in, Portal then allows much more granular tweaks. Gameplay modifiers allow you to toggle elements like friendly fire, aim assist, stationary weapon emplacements, and weather events, while soldier settings allow you to choose if players can go prone, strafe while sprinting, have health regeneration, slide, and revive members of the squad. These toggles help recreate experiences from legacy games, where things like squad revives were not part of the rules.

There are also modifiers for how vehicles are spawned or called in, and for what UI elements will be present for players; this means you can turn off things like the compass, minimap, and ally identification icons for a more ‘realistic’ game type.

Battlefield Portal also supports bots, which can be set up as PvE or PvP enemies. In PvP mode, these bots will be replaced by humans as they log into the server, but PvE bots cannot be replaced. Since the ratio of players to bots can be manually decided, and the sides made up of uneven numbers, it means you can set up a PvE game where a few human players go up against dozens of AI bots.

Completing the basics is the Restrictions section, which allows you to determine which eras of Battlefield will be present. This setting means you can set up one team as using characters and equipment from Battlefield 1942, and have them play against a team set up to replicate Battlefield 2042. This can be adjusted to fine tune the experience, with the ability to restrict which of the 75+ weapons the teams have access to, what attachments and gadgets are available, and what vehicles will be present.

The most ambitious Battlefield Portal users can also use a Rules Editor toolset to script out very specific parameters. EA and DICE have’t offered any concrete examples of what can be done in the Rules Editor, but rules can be scripted with conditions and actions, and - at least from the little that has been shown - can be used to affect things from inventory items to overall factions.

For more Battlefield 2042, check out the 10-hour free trial that's coming to EA Play and Game Pass subscribers. And despite fan criticism, DICE have doubled down on Battlefield 2042’s Specialists. You can also get a new look at Hazard Zone, the new game mode for 2042.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

EA and DICE have offered an in-depth look at how Battlefield Portal, the create-your-own-Battlefield-experience tool that will be available in Battlefield 2042, works. The details reveal just how flexible the system is, from allowing faithful recreations of fan favourites such as Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, to Frankenstein-like mashups that bring in weapons, rules, and maps from multiple different legacy games.

Battlefield Portal will use a web browser interface, allowing for easy set up of custom modes. The Portal can be accessed even if you don’t own Battlefield 2042, meaning you can still create games and share them with friends that do own the game.

Creating an ‘Experience’ in Battlefield Portal requires completing a variety of steps, starting with choosing a game mode. Portal offers the classic roster of Battlefield modes; Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. These can be played on a variety of classic maps, and you’re not limited to the ‘right’ number of players for each one; for example, Noshahr Canals: Container Area can be played with 128 players (on PC and new-gen consoles), despite being designed for far fewer combatants.

Portal features 13 small maps and 13 medium maps, plus 7 large maps that can only be played on PC and new-gen consoles. Among them are fan favourites including Arica Harbor, Caspian Border, and Battle of the Bulge. The full list can be seen below.

Small Maps

• Discarded: Recycling Yard
• Hourglass: Al Salam Park
• Breakaway: Platform
• Kaleidoscope: Data Center
• Manifest: Caju Operations
• Orbital: Crawlerway
• Renewal: Fields
• Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith
• Arica Harbor: Town
• Valparaiso: Village
• El Alamein: Axis Airfield
• Noshahr Canals: Container Area
• Caspian Border: Gas Station

Medium Maps

• Discarded
• Hourglass
• Breakaway
• Kaleidoscope
• Manifest
• Orbital
• Renewal
• Battle of the Bulge
• Arica Harbor
• Valparaiso
• El Alamein
• Noshahr Canals
• Caspian Border

Large Maps

• Discarded
• Hourglass
• Breakaway
• Kaleidoscope
• Manifest
• Orbital
• Renewal

With the mode and map locked in, Portal then allows much more granular tweaks. Gameplay modifiers allow you to toggle elements like friendly fire, aim assist, stationary weapon emplacements, and weather events, while soldier settings allow you to choose if players can go prone, strafe while sprinting, have health regeneration, slide, and revive members of the squad. These toggles help recreate experiences from legacy games, where things like squad revives were not part of the rules.

There are also modifiers for how vehicles are spawned or called in, and for what UI elements will be present for players; this means you can turn off things like the compass, minimap, and ally identification icons for a more ‘realistic’ game type.

Battlefield Portal also supports bots, which can be set up as PvE or PvP enemies. In PvP mode, these bots will be replaced by humans as they log into the server, but PvE bots cannot be replaced. Since the ratio of players to bots can be manually decided, and the sides made up of uneven numbers, it means you can set up a PvE game where a few human players go up against dozens of AI bots.

Completing the basics is the Restrictions section, which allows you to determine which eras of Battlefield will be present. This setting means you can set up one team as using characters and equipment from Battlefield 1942, and have them play against a team set up to replicate Battlefield 2042. This can be adjusted to fine tune the experience, with the ability to restrict which of the 75+ weapons the teams have access to, what attachments and gadgets are available, and what vehicles will be present.

The most ambitious Battlefield Portal users can also use a Rules Editor toolset to script out very specific parameters. EA and DICE have’t offered any concrete examples of what can be done in the Rules Editor, but rules can be scripted with conditions and actions, and - at least from the little that has been shown - can be used to affect things from inventory items to overall factions.

For more Battlefield 2042, check out the 10-hour free trial that's coming to EA Play and Game Pass subscribers. And despite fan criticism, DICE have doubled down on Battlefield 2042’s Specialists. You can also get a new look at Hazard Zone, the new game mode for 2042.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Publisher WayForward (also known as the beloved developer behind games like Contra 4, Duck Tales Remastered, and A Boy and His Blob) is partnering with developer 13AM Games on Dawn of the Monsters, a new co-op brawler in which you get to play as a Kaiju who stands up to other giant monsters and inadvertently trashes the fully destructible fictional city of New Toronto in the process. It is due out in the first half of 2022 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

There are four playable beasts: Megadon, Ganira, Aegis Prime, and Tempest Galahad. Each has Brutal Rage abilities, Cataclysm Attacks, and finishing moves. As you can see in the trailer above and in the screenshots below, Dawn of the Monsters has a unique comic book-like art style, and WayForward says that the kaiju designs are done by legendary Godzilla character creator Shiji Nishikawa and Godzilla comic book artist Matt Frank.

It won't be all boss fights across Dawn of the Monsters's 35 missions; there are over a dozen regular enemy types standing in your way as well, and you're able to bring one friend into the battle in co-op. You can also customize your kaiju.

Expect to see and hear more about Dawn of the Monsters next year as its release window approaches.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Publisher WayForward (also known as the beloved developer behind games like Contra 4, Duck Tales Remastered, and A Boy and His Blob) is partnering with developer 13AM Games on Dawn of the Monsters, a new co-op brawler in which you get to play as a Kaiju who stands up to other giant monsters and inadvertently trashes the fully destructible fictional city of New Toronto in the process. It is due out in the first half of 2022 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

There are four playable beasts: Megadon, Ganira, Aegis Prime, and Tempest Galahad. Each has Brutal Rage abilities, Cataclysm Attacks, and finishing moves. As you can see in the trailer above and in the screenshots below, Dawn of the Monsters has a unique comic book-like art style, and WayForward says that the kaiju designs are done by legendary Godzilla character creator Shiji Nishikawa and Godzilla comic book artist Matt Frank.

It won't be all boss fights across Dawn of the Monsters's 35 missions; there are over a dozen regular enemy types standing in your way as well, and you're able to bring one friend into the battle in co-op. You can also customize your kaiju.

Expect to see and hear more about Dawn of the Monsters next year as its release window approaches.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

A developer has created a very smart mod that turns Crusader Kings 3 and Mount & Blade 2 into a single game, allowing players to strategize in the former and battle inside the latter.

For as much as Crusader Kings 3 does an impressive job at simulating the complex political and social structures of medieval rule, one particular element that it lacks is a battle simulator that allows players to jump into the action and see their forces battle it out in real-time.

Now, however, a developer has created Crusader Blade - a new mod that remedies that exact problem. Taking your armies from Crusader Kings 3, the Crusader Blade mod then uses the battle engine from Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord to allow you to fight against your enemies at ground level before sending the data back to Crusader Kings 3 to update your campaign.

The mod even accounts for scaling issues and factors in the size and scope of battles that each game can run. As it doesn't have to render conflict in real-time, battles in Crusader Kings 3 can sometimes be fought between tens of thousands of troops on the battlefield at once - a factor that Mount & Blade 2 can't quite manage.

Thankfully, the mod takes this into account. Taking a proportional approach to unit representation as it brings data from Crusader Kings 3 to Mount & Blade 2, the mod looks at both the size and composition of the armies set to go into battle and maintains this as it scales the forces down to a size that Mount and Blade can render on screen. Then when the battle is over, the mod applies a similar logic to sending that data back to Crusader Kings 3 - scaling up your losses so that they make sense in your campaign going forward.

If you're hoping to get a hold of the mod itself then you can do so by downloading it from Crusader Blade's itch.io page. While the mod has launched, its developers plan to keep it updated over time, supported by a Patreon. In order to run the mod, you will of course need to own both Crusader Kings 3 and Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord.

To learn more about both games, check out our 10/10 Crusader Kings 3 review, and our look at Mount & Blade 2's early access version, which we awarded an 8/10.

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