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As much as I love the Ayaneo Pocket S, it doesn't do enough to justify its price.

If there’s anything a game can do to make a good first impression, it’s having its dual protagonists riding huge dragons in what feels like a cataclysmic event.

Having no skin in the game as far as Rune Factory as a series is concerned, it felt as though I’d skipped a whole host of chapters and was getting ready for the final battle between good and evil, and then… my character woke up.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Release date: June 5, 2025

Rather than charging into battle atop a mythical creature, I found myself cleaning up weeds and harvesting wood. The surprising part, however, is that in doing so, I came to fall in love with the depths of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma’s systems.

There’s combat here, sure, but in the 25 hours I spent in its charming world on Nintendo Switch 2, the biggest draws were getting to just the next upgrade for my burgeoning town, offering just the right gift on a character’s birthday, and enjoying quality time with its cast.

Rhythm is a dancer

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

Still, I’m getting ahead of myself. As I mentioned, I’ve never played a Rune Factory game before, but with multiple Switch 2 games dropping into the laps of gamers, I wanted to kick the tires somewhat even before this review in hopes of filling a knowledge gap.

Waking from a dream, my amnesiac hero finds himself in the quaint Spring Village. Here, the sacred tree has stopped blooming, and I was tasked with cleaning the place up in hopes that better times would return.

As it would happen, the protagonist is an Earth Dancer, able to tap into natural forces (isn’t that always the way?), allowing them to wield divine instruments that help plants grow and push back against a sort of blight that’s strangling this once-vibrant world.

That narrative setup leads into the main mechanic of Guardians of Azuma: Village management. If the game itself were a sacred tree, its village customisation and management tools would be the central trunk–absolutely everything feeds into it, and that’s what helped me sink so many hours in so quickly.

Making friends…

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

In the game’s opening hours, you’ll be led by the hand through all sorts of smaller pieces of village stewardship. You’ll meet its inhabitants to grow social bonds (more on that shortly), and spend time building up a designated area for fields and small buildings.

It doesn’t take long to build a couple of relatively humble abodes to help bring in new villagers, or harvest crops that can be sent elsewhere to raise capital for your village. In fact, before long, there’s the same kind of satisfaction you find in any other management game, as things tick along nicely.

The more villagers you can, the more they’ll be able to help with chores and tasks, and each has individual perks that help them fall more naturally into roles like Loggers, Farmers, or Miners.

Seeing my small patch of farmland from the game’s first hour gain a whole host of villagers to work on the harvest, or adding my first blacksmith, felt perfectly paced. The carrot on the proverbial stick of “I just need to get to the next upgrade” kept me up past 2 AM more than once, and there’s a really cosy quality to Guardians of Azuma that makes it a natural fit as a Switch 2 launch game.

…and influencing people

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

In between your daily routine of tidying things up, bossing people about, and trying to make a bit of gold, you’ll also have the chance to grow friendships with your companions and even branch out into romance with them.

This is achieved by making an effort to converse with them regularly, fulfilling any requests they may have, and eventually working with their likes and dislikes to select suitable gifts or suggest suitable activities.

It’s not as strictly structured as something like Persona, and while there is a day/night schedule (complete with debuffs for staying up late), it’s easy to fit multiple social engagements into one day.

Best bit

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

They say 'it takes a village', and I loved watching my relatively small patch of farmland grow into a bustling production line of crops being picked, weapons being crafted, and making coin via trading.

That’s a good thing, because many of the characters are just so fun to talk to. Ulalaka, the divine spirit of the game’s first village, is relaxed and cordial but holds some deeper fears about the state of the world and her diminishing powers. And, while some characters are certainly more one-note (Murasame is the relatively generic swordsman, while Takumi is the affable, boisterous carpenter), they’re all brought to life with exuberant voice acting and great regionalisation.

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

A special shout-out, too, to Woolby. The game’s comic relief could have felt more irritating given how much he’s on screen in certain scenes, and I had feared he’d be akin to Persona’s Teddy or Morgana, but I ended up genuinely enjoying his appearances, and he didn’t grate much at all.

Laying down the law of the land

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)

You’ll want to spend time chatting up your cohorts, too. There are around two dozen romance options, but once any of their bond levels hit 1 (which is very, very easy to do), they’ll be able to accompany you on expeditions out of the village.

That’s important because while your town is busy working on items and weapons you can take out into the world with you, there are monsters to slay.

While the bright art style may suggest similarities, it’s not quite as deep as in something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Many enemies can be felled with a few swings of your sword, but there are plenty of weapons to unlock, each with their own skill trees.

That applies to your party, too, so leveling your social bonds can be the difference between rolling into a boss fight with a relatively slapdash squad or with a team of hardened veterans.

There’s a breeziness to the action-based sword-swinging and bow-firing, and the option to slow time when you nail a ‘Perfect Dodge’ and follow up with a whirlwind flurry of attacks feels just as good here as it has in recent Zelda titles.

Some enemies will even turn into villagers, making seeking them out (and various other bonuses in the areas outside your village) a worthy endeavour.

Rinse, repeat

While there’s always something to do, be it a notjiceboard request or working towards the next village upgrade, the game’s structure won’t be to everyone’s liking.

Each chapter essentially adds a new village, and if you’ve not had a great deal of fun managing the minutiae of harvesting and selling crops in the first one, you’ll probably struggle to find the fun in the following villages.

Each comes with its own unique challenges, characters, and mechanics, but the overarching mechanics remain the same. That’s something I had a blast with, just constantly min/maxing my time, but it won’t be to everyone’s tastes.

I also found that there are some frame rate drops while playing on a TV at 4K, but those weren’t an issue in handheld. Given the option to sit back and do some village management while watching TV, though, I can see the latter being the way most people enjoy Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.

Should you play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?Play it if...

You’re looking for something to scratch that Animal Crossing itch
Rune Factory isn’t quite as cutesy, but it does offer plenty of management systems for your villages. And yes, you can just walk around pulling up weeds as if Tom Nook is watching over you.

You want something to sink hours into
Between finding materials, recruiting villagers, restoring your home, and much, much more, it’s easy to get lost in Guardians of Azuma’s series of interwoven mechanics.

You’re looking for a great starting point for the series
I’ve never played a Rune Factory game, but it’s a series I’ll be keeping an eye on in the future. It’s easy to follow right from the jump.

Don't play it if...

You’re looking for a deep story
Guardians of Azuma’s story is relatively by-the-numbers, but a strong cast of characters and great voice work help it feel more than the sum of its parts.

Accessibility

As far as I could see in the settings, there are no additional subtitle sizes on offer, but you can auto-pause dialogue when a sentence is finished. You can also adjust the speed at which subtitles appear.

Button mapping is very flexible, too, meaning players can customize their button inputs as much as they’d like, and the game does a great job of keeping button tooltips on screen, too.

(Image credit: Marvelous Inc.)How I reviewed Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

I played Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for 25 hours, completing the main story and mopping up a whole host of side quests.

I did so on Nintendo Switch 2, switching between docked with my Sky Glass TV and playing in handheld mode, and making use of the Switch 2 Pro Controller. It marks one of my favorite Switch 2 experiences alongside The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild, as well as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but up next it’s Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition.

First reviewed June 2025

The news conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET at the conclusion of the summit in the Netherlands as the world watches to see whether a ceasefire between Israel and Iran will endure.

(Image credit: Francis Chung)

• Photos of an iPhone 17 Pro dummy unit show a more polished design than earlier leaks
• They provide a close look at the rumored new camera bar design
• It's a design that now seems very likely to feature

At this point, we’ve seen quite a few leaked renders and dummy units of the iPhone 17 Pro, most of which show off a new look for the camera bar – one that a lot of people haven’t been impressed by. But a new iPhone 17 Pro dummy unit might change some minds.

Leaker Majin Bu has shared photos of what's purported to be an iPhone 17 Pro dummy unit, and while the design looks broadly the same as in previous leaks, it looks much more like a finished phone than in most earlier glimpses.

The iPhone 17 Pro is shown in a black color, with a glossy camera panel and a more matte finish on the rest of the rear, and that contrast certainly looks appealing to our eyes. The camera block also doesn’t look like it sticks out quite as much here as in some earlier leaks, though it’s undeniably large.

IPhone 17 Pro Black, Absolutely beautiful pic.twitter.com/tQZAGa6TGlJune 24, 2025

A likely leak

Now, as with any leak, we’d take this with a pinch of salt, especially as Majin Bu has a mixed track record. But the phone here looks to us much more like something Apple would actually release than the uglier interpretations of this design we’ve seen in the past.

So, we’d say there’s a high chance this is somewhat accurate. Certainly, it seems very likely that Apple will equip the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max with a large camera block in broadly this shape, since most leaks are in agreement on that front.

We should find out exactly how these phones will look in September, as that’s the month Apple typically uses to unveil new iPhones. In any case, we’re now a lot more positive about this rumored design change than we were before.

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July is yet another stacked month looking at everything new on Hulu, and although that means more titles must be removed to make way for its new additions, unlike other platforms, Hulu tends to only remove a small handful of its lesser-known movies, which is one of the reasons why it's still up there as one of the best streaming services.

Hulu removed only 15 movies in June, but has increased that slightly next month to 17 films. Though these movies aren't as popular as other titles on the platform, there are a few hidden gems for you to get through before they go, especially if you're a fan of horrors and thrillers.

For another consecutive month at least, the best Hulu movies remain untouched, which is a nice surprise for movie buffs like me. Let's hope Hulu sticks to this pattern when considering which movies to remove next.

Everything leaving Hulu in July 2025

Leaving on July 1

Asking For It (movie)

Leaving on July 6

Ultrasound (movie)

Leaving on July 7

Minamata (movie)

Leaving on July 12

Vesper (movie)

Leaving on July 14

Supercell (movie)

Leaving on July 15

God's Country (movie)

Leaving on July 17

The Hater (movie)

Leaving on July 18

The Cursed (movie)

Leaving on July 19

Old Man (movie)

Leaving on July 20

You Are Not My Mother (movie)

Leaving on July 21

American Night (movie)

Leaving on July 22

All My Friends Hate Me (movie)

Leaving on July 23

My Happy Ending (movie)

Leaving on July 24

Topside (movie)

Leaving on July 25

The Lair (movie)

Leaving on July 29

Hatching (movie)

Leaving on July 30

A Day to Die (movie)

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I did the unthinkable last week: I paused my Netflix subscription and decided to only watch content from a smaller, lesser-known streaming service called Mubi instead.

The results? I watched a lot of movies that I normally wouldn’t be able to find on one of the best streaming services. From arthouse and indie films like Pablo Larraín's Ema, to world cinema and restored classics like Tarsem Singh's The Fall, a lot of the titles I watched aren’t widely available to stream elsewhere.

While mainstream streaming services have played a valuable role in helping to distribute more indie films, in more recent years many have had to tighten their purse strings as they look to funnel more money to their studio's big-ticket productions. This means indie movies don't tend to make up a huge part of their libraries, giving Mubi the opportunity to cater to a niche that the popular streamers are neglecting.

Mubi's catalog might have a lot less choice than the likes of Netflix, but this gives its original content (both self-made and acquired) even more exclusivity, as it's the only place to find certain films. What Mubi is essentially offering is a gateway to some of the biggest film festivals’ highlights, so if you didn’t get to go to this year’s Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale or Venice festivals, Mubi is your streaming portal.

Of course, not every film from these festivals is streaming on Mubi. The cost of acquiring movies depends on the scale of a production and the prestige of the studio behind it. But with Mubi making its biggest acquisition ever at this year’s Cannes – it spent $24 million on Lynne Ramsay's festival darling Die My Love (pictured above) – it's starting to become a viable rival to streamers with deeper pockets.

What I streamed during my Mubi subscription

Pablo Larraín's Ema was one of the arthouse films I watched on Mubi. (Image credit: Mubi)

If you’re new to Mubi, there’s never been a better time to be getting into independent cinema. Indie studios such as A24 and Neon are producing some of the movie world's most talked-about releases – who could forget last year's Oscar-winning hit Anora? Or what about some of the best horror movies of 2024 like I Saw the TV Glow and Long Legs?

Mubi's own distribution studio is making waves in the space, too. It most notably secured the global streaming rights to Coralie Fargeat’s body horrorThe Substance last year, alongside Magnus von Horn's true-crime drama The Girl with the Needle and Andrea Arnold’s dreamscape coming-of-age drama Bird, which if you haven't seen is an absolute must-watch.

Arnold is known for casting unknown actors alongside established stars, and this formula works brilliantly for Bird, which sees Barry Keoghan (Salt Burn) starring alongside newcomer Nykiya Adams.

Other highlights from its 2024 releases (that I've seen so far) include the Latvian indie movie Flow, which beat Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 to win Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, as well as Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl and Miguel Gomes' Grand Tour.

I also managed to find some older films that I hadn't seen in years like John Carpenter's Escape From New York (if you haven't met Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken before, then you're welcome), Spike Lee's Malcolm X, Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin and Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. I also made sure to stream these nine movies on Mubi with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes recommended by TechRadar's Rowan Davies.

What I'm most excited for, though, is the new movies and series that Mubi acquired at this year's festivals, and which are yet to be released on the streaming service. From what I'm seeing online from those who attended the screenings, Cooper Raiff's Hal & Harper, Alex Russell's Lurker and Oliver Laxe's Sirât are among the most-anticipated, with all three having over 90% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes based on early critic reviews.

What I loved about streaming movies on Mubi

Andrea Arnold's Bird was one of my favorite watches on Mubi. (Image credit: Mubi)

We once hailed Mubi as the "antidote to streaming fatigue", and I wholeheartedly agree with this for the way it takes a completely different approach to curating its library. Unlike the more popular streamers, Mubi hand-picks the films it shows, making it a lot easier to find something new to watch.

I'm sure many have found themselves making one of these five mistakes when choosing what to watch on Netflix (or any streaming service for that matter); whether it be ignoring non-English titles or judging a movie by its cover art. But it's a lot harder to do this on a service like Mubi, mainly because it specializes in foreign films (it always includes the country of where a film is made), and because of the incredible cover art it features for each title.

It even has a Curator's Spotlight section of featured films to make deciding what to watch easier, but it's worth noting that this varies by region because of distribution rights. For instance, in the US, Mubi's editors have picked Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, Alonso Ruizpalacios' La Cocina, Daisy Von Scherler Mayer's Party Girl and Michael Almeryda's Marjorie Prime, while in the UK only La Cocina is recommended out of those four.

Mubi also has a treasure trove of little-known content that makes finding something new to watch enjoyable and fresh. Half the time, I've never heard of the films I see in its catalog, which means I'm constantly discovering new underground hits I wish I'd known about sooner. I couldn't ask for anything more from a streaming service.

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• Microsoft Teams will soon let users save messages in chats
• New addition should help users quickly find important messafes
• All Microsoft Teams users should benefit upon launch

Finding that vital message to check your working (or win an argument) in a Microsoft Teams chat should soon be easier than ever thanks to a new update.

The video conferencing platform has revealed it is working on adding the ability for users to save messages in their conversations and chats.

This tool should mean users no longer have to trawl back manually through long conversations to find the message they need - something that has definitely frustrated me in the past.

Microsoft Teams notification sizes

In a Microsoft 365 roadmap post, the company noted how the new feature will allow users to, "quickly get back to important information without scrolling through long conversations."

Users will be able to save messages, covering not just posts, but also any replies or chat message, and be able to find them later in the Saved view in your Chat or Teams list.

Simply click on a saved message to open the full conversation in the right pane, where you can review or reply directly to whichever message you choose.

The feature is listed as being "in development", but has a scheduled rollout start date of August 2025, so users don't have too long to wait. When released, it will be available to users across the world using Teams on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

The launch is the latest in a series of recent improvements to Microsoft Teams announced by the company as it looks to improve the experience for users.

This includes adding noise suppression for participants dialing in to a call, which should spell an end to potentially ear-splitting call interruptions, or participants being deafened by background noise from another person on the call.

The platform also revealed it is rolling out "enhanced spell check", giving users the tools to make sure their messages are as accurate as possible.

It also recently announced it would be adding a tweak to will allow multiple people to control slides being presented in a meeting or call.

Users will also finally be able to minimize or shrink the size of Teams notifications, meaning they are safe from having distracting pop-ups catch the corner of their eye when working.

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• Apple’s AirTag 2 tracker has long been rumored to launch around the middle of this year
• But a new report claims it's been delayed until September
• When it launches the tracker could also come with low-battery alerts

Apple’s AirTag is one of the best item-trackers around, and the second-generation AirTag 2 has been rumored to be dropping any day now. But, while a new leak hints that the device is almost ready, it looks like it might be delayed by a few months.

This information seems to have been unearthed by 9to5Mac and “reliable” sources cited by the outlet. We don’t have a way to independently verify what they've said, so take this with a pinch of salt.

First, 9to5Mac says that “we are able to confirm that Apple has already set up compatibility with the 2nd-gen AirTag on iOS 18.6”.

Based on the release dates of iOS 17.6 and iOS 16.6, it’s likely that the iOS 18.6 update will land in mid-July, which lines up nicely with past rumors that the AirTag 2 would drop around the middle of the year.

But before you get your hopes up, 9to5Mac also claims its sources have told it that the AirTag 2 has now been delayed, with Apple "now aiming at a fall release". That could mean we won’t see the device until September, which is when the iPhone 17 range will be announced.

Plenty of new features

(Image credit: TechRadar)

For a few months now, various leaks and rumors have pushed the idea that the AirTag 2 is due to launch right about now. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, for example, claimed that Apple was aiming for a release “around the middle” of 2025, and just a few weeks ago he stated that the device was “nearly ready.” Leaker Kosutami, meanwhile, said the AirTag 2 should arrive in May or June this year.

With June almost over, 9to5Mac’s claim that the release window has been pushed back remains a distinct possibility. That said, there’s still plenty of time for the AirTag 2 to arrive “around the middle” of the year (such as in July or even August), so it’s not a done deal yet.

According to the rumor mill, AirTag 2 will come with better connectivity that could triple the Precision Finding range. It will also supposedly be more tamper-resistant, while 9to5Mac says its source believes the AirTag 2 will have “alerts for both low and very low battery levels.” The website also says it has a “hunch” that Apple could switch to a rechargeable battery in the tracker.

If you’ve been thinking about getting some new AirTags, we would have previously suggested you wait until the new version launches. But with the AirTag 2 apparently delayed a few months, now might be a good time to peruse some of the best AirTag deals if you’re in need of a reliable item tracker.

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• Microsoft is trying to push its AI chatbot Copilot, but is hitting roadblocks
• Copilot is struggling against rival ChatGPT
• ChatGPT launched much earlier, giving the model a head start

AI chatbot models like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are gaining huge traction in the workplace and beyond, but OpenAI's model is reportedly starting to show dominance in the business world.

A Bloomberg report has claimed even businesses which have purchased Copilot plans are struggling to convince users to make the switch, with drugmaker Amgen buying a 20,000 user plan, only to have employees continue using ChatGPT over a year later.

It is not the only customer to report issues, as workers shun Microsoft Copilot in favor of ChatGPT, which is used more at home and thus become more familiar to many.

A head start

Microsoft does use OpenAI’s models to power Copilot, and offers very similar features to ChatGPT, with information summaries, email drafting, data analysis, and image generation.

That being said, ChatGPT’s momentum and existing user base seems to be giving the chatbot the edge.

As of June 2025, ChatGPT has almost 800 million weekly active users, and 3 million paying business users, whereas Copilot has stagnated a little, with 20 million weekly users for the past year.

Theoretically, the race should be a little more even, since Windows is such a dominant operating system in the professional world. Microsoft salespeople have traditionally been able to use Windows compatibility as an effective selling point, but that’s no longer the case, the report suggests;

“The company’s [Microsoft’s] salespeople knew ChatGPT dominated the consumer chatbot market, but expected Microsoft to own the enterprise space for AI assistants thanks to decades-long relationships with corporate IT departments. But by the time Microsoft began selling Copilot to businesses, many office workers had already tried out ChatGPT at home, giving the chatbot a first-mover advantage.”

Despite negotiating with companies such as Volkswagen, Accenture and Barclays, which all signed deals for over 100,000 accounts in agreements worth ‘tens of millions’ a year, Microsoft still lags behind OpenAI in its user base, and organizations are having to encourage workers to use the chatbot.

The news comes after Microsoft has announced largescale layoffs, with between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs worldwide expected to be cut - amounting to nearly 3% of the firm’s workforce - just two years after 10,000 personnel were made redundant (5% of the workforce).

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• Colors have leaked for the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7
• The leak comes from Samsung's own website
• We could get three main colors for each phone

We've already seen plenty of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 leaks in recent days – and now it appears Samsung has got in on the act itself

As spotted by Android Authority, certain pages have gone live on Samsung's Ireland website, showing three colors for the Z Fold 7 and three for the Z Flip 7 – with both handsets getting a fourth Green Mint shade that's exclusive to the website.

For the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, it looks like we'll get Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Silver Shadow. That compares to Silver Shadow, Pink, and Navy for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, at least in the US (with Crafted Black and White as website exclusives).

The leak suggests Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Coral Red as the main colors for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7. In the US right now, you can pick up the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in Yellow, Mint, Silver Shadow, and Blue, with Black, Peach, and White the colors exclusive to Samsung's website).

Throwing shades

More Galaxy Z Fold7 images have emerged!Via @evleaks pic.twitter.com/NPm0bJE82lJune 25, 2025

This latest leak lines up pretty neatly with what we've previously heard about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 colors and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 colors. While there will of course be variations over time and between regions, it seems Samsung may have now settled on the color options it's going to give us.

It's worth mentioning that Coral Red has also been tipped for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, so it's possible that the distinctive shade is coming to both of these foldables – which are also both likely to be instant additions to our best foldable phones guide.

The color leaks also fit in neatly with unofficial renders posted by @evleaks: these renders also show Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Silver Shadow for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and Jet Black, Blue Shadow, and Coral Red for the Galaxy Z Flip 7.

What we do know for sure is that Samsung has scheduled the next Galaxy Unpacked event for Wednesday, July 9. The smart money suggests we should see both these flagship foldables appear, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8.

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• Jurassic World Evolution 3 will no longer feature AI generated character portraits
• This was confirmed by the developers via the Steam Forum
• It follows community backlash regarding the inclusion

The developer of the upcoming dinosaur park management simulator Jurassic World Evolution 3 has announced that the game will no longer feature some AI-generated visual assets following community outrage.

When the next entry in the Jurassic World Evolution series was first revealed at last year's Summer Game Fest, some eagle-eyed fans spotted an AI-generated content disclosure on its Steam page. "Scientists' avatars are created using generative AI," it read, referring to some in-game character portraits.

The disclosure, which is now required by Valve, is intended to increase transparency and allow consumers to decide whether they are comfortable purchasing a product with any generative AI involvement.

Many Jurassic World Evolution fans reacted negatively to the news, with a huge thread on the Steam forums discussing the move. "Nope, I will not support this," wrote one potential player. "It's a matter of principle," chimed in another.

A few defended the decision: "If using AI to quickly generate images for scientists [...] helps free up time for development on actually-important mechanics, then it is worthwhile to use. Being upset over something that is so inconsequential to the rest of the game is pretty ridiculous."

No matter which side of the AI content debate you fall on, polarising your fanbase like this ahead of a major launch is never a particularly good idea and risks overshadowing all other conversation regarding the game.

This is presumably one of the reasons why developer Frontier Developments has announced that the game will no longer feature the AI-generated assets.

"Thanks for your feedback on this topic," a representative wrote on the Steam forum "We have opted to remove the use of generative AI for scientist portraits within Jurassic World Evolution 3."

The AI-generated content disclosure has now been removed from the Steam page, too, which presumably means that the title will no longer feature any AI-generated content.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 is set to launch on October 21, 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PlayStation 5.

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PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter: two-minute review

In photography, we often want more light. It’s why people seek out larger sensors and wider apertures in their cameras and lenses – in order to capture a greater amount of light in a shorter space of time. That’s brilliant if you want a fast shutter speed to freeze the action – but what if you want to use a slower shutter speed, in order to capture the motion blur of a car racing past or turn a raging river into a smooth, silky ribbon of blue?

Achieving a slow shutter speed, particular on a sunny day, can be tricky – which is where ND filters like the PolarPro QuartzLine range come in. Available in a wide range of strengths, these circular filters screw onto the front of a camera lens and reduce light transference without affecting color rendition. At least, that’s the idea.

PolarPro sent me four ND filters to test, all in 67mm thread size (they’re also available in 77mm and 82mm), in ND8, ND16, ND64 and ND1000 strengths. The ND8 filter drops light input and increases exposure time by three stops; the ND16 four stops; the ND64 six stops; and the ND1000 filter 10 stops. Obviously, having a set like this in your camera bag would be handy if you want to cover every eventuality – but it’ll be mighty expensive too.

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(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 2 of 4

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(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

Each filter comes with its own hinged hard carry case and microfiber cleaning cloth, emphasising their premium positioning. The cases are hard plastic, but have a fetching brushed metal finish and magnetic closure, and each is helpfully labelled with the thread size and ND value, to reduce the time it takes to pull out the right one from your bag.

The filters themselves are well crafted and beautifully solid, so it does at least feel like that money is going somewhere. Made of brass and aluminum (and with a distinctive brass-colored finish), they’re reassuring tough, with pleasingly chunky ridges that gave me plenty of grip whenever I was attaching or detaching them from my Panasonic Lumix GH6’s lens (I used a 62mm to 67mm step-up ring, also made by PolarPro, in order to do so).

The brass frame construction should keep the screw threads in good shape too, in theory – so these filters should be fitting smoothly for many, many years to come. I found them very easy to fit, but you’d expect that from new filters. They also feature front threads, allowing other filters and attachments to be fitted over them.

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(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

The glass, dubbed Cinema Series Glass by PolarPro, is made in Germany. A series of coatings purportedly eliminate color shift (any sort of color cast being added by the filter), and PolarPro also claims its ultra-low refractivity keeps the effects of the light passing through so minimal that it can fully resolve sensors with up to 400MP resolution. The coatings add anti-scratch, anti-oil and hydrophobic qualities too.

My Lumix GH6’s sensor is just 25.2MP, so doesn’t really help in putting the refractivity claims to the test, but in terms of color shift I can say I’m impressed. Even the most powerful filter of the four I was testing, the ND1000, doesn’t add much of visible color cast to images – but when closely comparing test shots without the filters to those with, there is a slight warm tint visible in the filtered images.

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This photo was shot as a control, with no ND filter attached (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)PolarPro QuartzLine ND color cast comparisonsImage 2 of 5

Sample photo using the ND8 filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 3 of 5

Sample photo using the ND16 filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 4 of 5

Sample photo using the ND64 filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 5 of 5

Sample photo using the ND1000 filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

I wouldn’t call this a huge drawback, particularly as I think anyone spending this much money on ND filters probably has some experience in post-processing and editing photos. It’s nothing that can’t easily be fixed in Lightroom or similar, and most observers wouldn’t even notice it unless they were looking, but it’s definitely present.

Using the filters, I was able to capture long exposures (10 seconds or more) on bright, sunny days by the sea. These photos smoothed out the motion of the waves and made the surface of the water more transparent to give my images a much more dream-like quality. They would have been completely impossible to take without an ND filter, as too much light would have entered the camera and blown out the image.

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This long exposure turned crashing waves into silky, smooth ribbons of motion. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 2 of 6

Shot with no filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 3 of 6

Shot using the ND1000 filter and converted to black and white in Lightroom. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 4 of 6

A long, multi-second capture using the ND1000 filter smooths out the sea's surface and blurs the motion of a paddle boarder. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 5 of 6

A second seascape, shot with no filter. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Image 6 of 6

Here, the ND1000 filter was used to slow down the shutter speed for a multi-second capture. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

I was also able to use the filters to aid my videography by helping me to shoot video with a wider aperture (i.e. for a shallow depth of field) or slower shutter speed (for more motion blur). I did find this a little more challenging at points, as it involved swapping between filters a little too often – and it’s times like that when a variable ND (or VND) filter feels invaluable. These allow you to adjust ND strength by twisting the filter, offering a much more immediate solution. I’m also currently reviewing PolarPro’s own PMVND Edition II filter with a 2-5 stop range, so look out for an in-depth review of that soon.

While PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters are certainly expensive, I was thoroughly impressed by their premium construction, glass quality and general usability, and wouldn’t hesitate to use them in my own landscape photography and videography.

PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter: price and availability

In the US, PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters cost the same price, regardless of their thread size and filter strength at the PolarPro store. Whether you pick 67mm, 77mm or 82mm threads, or the ND8, ND16, ND64, ND1000 or ND100K strengths, every filter costs $99.99. Simple and, in my opinion, good value for money – particularly given that you also get a hard storage case and cleaning cloth with each filter.

In other countries, the price can vary a lot more. In the UK, for instance, the filters seem very expensive in comparison to US pricing, and thread size and ND value seemingly have little bearing on the cost – i.e. at Amazon UK, the larger thread sizes are sometimes cheaper than the smaller ones, where logic would dictate the opposite. It’s a slightly confusing situation, with some retailers offering decent discounts while others charge the full whack.

Should I buy the PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter?

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)Buy it if...

You want an ND filter that’ll last you many years
With its rugged construction, coated glass and included hard case, there’s no reason a QuartLine ND filter shouldn’t last you a lifetime of shooting.

You want minimal distortion and color cast
I experienced no obvious ghosting or other distortion when using the filters, and only a tiny shift in color. It’s got great optical quality.

Don't buy it if...

You want a flexible filter for ever-changing conditions
For video shooting especially, a variable ND filter that can be quickly adapted to different lighting conditions may make more sense.

You’re on a tight budget
These are premium filters and the price reflects that. If you’re a beginner or on a budget, pick up some cheaper filters first to make sure they’re something you’ll use in your photography.

How I tested the PolarPro QuartzLine ND filter

• One week of use
• Tested with photography and video capture
• Used with Panasonic Lumix GH6 camera

I tested these PolarPro QuartzLine ND filters over the course of a sunny summer's week by the sea in southern England – an ideal time and place to put this type of light-stopping filter through its paces. I tested four filters in the range, fitting them onto my Panasonic Lumix GH6 camera (with the help of a step-up ring) to capture both still photos and video, comparing the results against shots captured without the filter.

First reviewed June 2025

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