The Normandy SR-2 Is Now A Haunted House, But It Will Always Be My Home

When missing a jump means certain doom, you might wish for death Platform games have an undeniable innocence. Since the days of Super Mario Bros., they've embodied the escapist joy that people associate with the medium. It's hard not to be charmed by the colorful aesthetics, creative styles, and beautifully simple gameplay. Sure, plenty of other genres have emerged over the years, but none have captured the easygoing appeal of running and jumping over obstacles. That pure sense of fun makes platformers the ultimate gaming comfort food. On the other hand, not every bite is so sweet.

Stephen King has many novels, novellas, and short stories in his vault, from deeply vivid and memorable epics to narratives that inspired Academy Award-winning movies. One of the hallmarks of his writing is his ability to create truly memorable villains, whether they’re human or creatures from another world. King makes great villains because he makes most of them sympathetic, no matter how vile their motives or their actions. “Even bad guys (most of them anyway) see themselves as good — they are the heroes of their own lives. Giving them a fair chance as characters can create some interesting shades of gray — and shades of gray are also a part of life,” he told Writer’s Digest in 2009. Halloween is almost here. And Amazon’s Carrie adaptation just got renewed for season 2. So to celebrate, here’s our official ranking of Stephen King's 10 best villains of all time.

I'll be honest folks: I didn't know that Steam's Personal Calendar feature was still technically in testing. I've been using it here and there to keep track of what's come out recently or what's coming out imminently, and have generally found it to be fairly reflective of the kinds of games I was interested in. It just worked! Yet lo and behold, a post from Valve went out yesterday announcing that the feature has launched out of Steam Labs "and is considered a full feature of the Steam Store. " The feature, if you've missed it, is "another way to see recommended games for you, showing both recently released and upcoming games filtered down to the set of games we think you are most likely to be interested in," as Valve explain it anyway. "It uses your recently played games to find people with similar playtime profiles to you, and then looks at the games those players have been adding to their wishlist or playing. " I do wonder if there's a bit more going under the hood here, as my playtime count is all over the place, with nothing above 50 hours on there, and that's an exception to the norm (I'm from more of a console background, alright).

Tomas Franzese is the Weekend News Editor at Polygon, following and reporting on the latest goings-on in the gaming and entertainment spaces. During the week, you can find him working on Remastered, his newsletter about video game history and retro gaming, or contributing to GameSpot and other publications. Previously, Tomas was the Gaming Segment Lead at XDA and a Staff Writer at Digital Trends. Steam now features a Personal Calendar that will recommend games to you

Ashely currently works as a news writer for Polygon. After getting her Translation degree, she was hired as a guide and news writer for GameRant and TheGamer. She enjoyed working as an author for these sites for six years, and in 2026, she started at Polygon, where she is able to continue to do what she loves: writing about video games. One last Halloween with this horror movie legend

Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A. V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast. ZA/UM's espionage-thriller gives us a taste of what Mass Effect: Universe might have been like