While WandaVision featured a smorgasbord of digital VFX, the series’ clever practical effects were a huge part of what established it as one of Marvel’s most imaginatively crafted projects. The show’s use of old-school Hollywood tricks made each episode feel like a different kind of classic sitcom, all while teasing out its major magical twists.

Instead of WandaVision’s references to sitcoms like I Love Lucy and Bewitched, Disney Plus’ new follow-up series, Agatha All Along, pays homage to supernatural horrors like Rosemary’s Baby and The Craft. It tells the story of how parasitic witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) sets out to regain her powers with the help of an unlikely team of friends and enemies. After being freed from a years-long hex that convinced her she was living in a gritty crime drama, Agatha realizes that her one hope of getting back on top is to put together a new coven and walk the Witches’ Road — a magical dimension only accessible (by song, naturally) to covens of magic users.

The show’s premise makes it seem like the sort of Marvel joint that would involve a lot more of the (at times very iffy) CGI that the studio’s live-action projects have become known for. But during the series’ recent press junket, showrunner Jac Schaeffer and executive producers Mary Livanos and Brad Winderbaum said that, in order to make Agatha All Along feel distinct and like a deep dive into the MCU’s mystical underbelly, they wanted to lean even more heavily into practical effects.

Much of WandaVision’s emphasis on practical effects stemmed from the show’s need to evoke the visual styles of shows from specific decades throughout the 20th century. But Schaeffer saw Agatha All Along as an opportunity to pay homage to the big-screen fantasies that shaped her storytelling sensibilities — many of which were known for their intricate sets and use of puppetry.

“On WandaVision, it was very precise which shows we were [mimicking,’] but [Agatha All Along] is really kind of broken open. It’s a lot of my personal influences. I’m a NeverEnding Story, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth kind of gal,” Schaeffer said.

There are flashes of witchiness sprinkled all throughout Agatha All Along’s premiere, but you can see the otherworldly whimsy Schaeffer’s talking about most clearly in the show’s third episode. “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials” transports Agatha’s coven from a New Jersey basement to the Witches’ Road where it’s perpetually twilight and the ground comes to life, ready to swallow people up if they aren’t careful about where they step.

Though the Witches’ Road — a realm that features largely in James Robinson and Vanesa Del Rey’s 2016 Scarlet Witch comic series — feels like the sort of glowy, metaphysical place Disney would usually create using Volume VFX sets, Livanos said that Agatha All Along’s effects were “almost wholly practical.” Winderbaum added that, for the Road itself, where much of Agatha All Along takes place, “there wasn’t a single green screen in sight on that set.”

Marvel’s past use of green screens and other digital effects has prompted some of the studio’s stars to speak out about how difficult it can be to deliver solid performances while acting in a neon void. WandaVision’s Elizabeth Olsen recently opened up about her own frustrations performing inside the physical nothingness required to bring Marvel’s big-budget projects together in post-production. But Hahn pointed to the Witches’ Road set as one of the big reasons why working on Agatha All Along felt like an immersive acting experience that didn’t require her “to shake off the outside world.”

“You felt so implanted in this magical place, and because it was mostly practical, it wasn’t something you had to imagine,” Hahn said. “It was like right there, which was very helpful and unexpectedly trippy.”

Because it’s a Marvel show about people casting spells and fighting demons, Agatha All Along still features its fair share of digital wizardry that works to make some of its more action-packed scenes pop. As a fan of stories that highlight characters’ physical transformations, though, Schaeffer jumped on every opportunity to put her witches through a crucible that left them literally “filthy, scarred, and scratched” by the show’s end.

“The cast were such troopers because all of that was real. There’s no adding digital blood and digital mud. These ladies were messed up for a long time. Cold; wet; muddy. Chocolate pudding all over their heads.”

SteelSeries has created new earbuds that are designed to pair with Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch consoles, or even PCs and mobile phones. The $159.99 Arctis GameBuds include active noise cancellation (ANC), Qi wireless charging, and the ability to instantly swap between mobile Bluetooth usage and console or PC gaming.

I’ve been trying them out for the past few days, and so far, I’m impressed, but I’ll need more time for a full review.

The Arctis GameBuds look very similar to most earbuds on the market, complete with a variety of silicone tips to fit different ear shapes. SteelSeries is using a four-microphone ANC system to block out sounds while you’re gaming, and there’s a transparency mode if you want to hear the environment around you.

The GameBuds connect to an Xbox or PlayStation through a tiny USB-C dongle that provides 2.4GHz wireless connectivity. You can triple-tap a button on the earbuds to swap between Bluetooth 5.3 for mobile devices and the 2.4GHz wireless signal for consoles and PCs. It’s surprisingly quick at swapping the audio over, but it doesn’t support simultaneous audio over Bluetooth and 2.4GHz like Sony’s Pulse Explore earbuds do.

I’ve been immediately impressed with the EQ settings in the mobile companion app. It includes more than 100 audio presets for popular games like Call of Duty, Destiny 2, EA Sports FC 24, Fortnite, and Valorant. These largely mirror the same EQ presets that can be found in SteelSeries’ GG desktop PC app with Sonar, and the results are impressive in games like Valorant, where you need to hear every footstep possible.

You can also toggle ANC and transparency modes in the mobile app or adjust the level of how much noise is being canceled out or allowed in. Both the mobile and desktop SteelSeries apps will allow you to control these settings and show the battery life levels for each earbud and the charging case.

The ANC does a good job of filtering out sounds around you if you’re playing music or a loud game, but you’ll still hear some ambient sounds if you have the volume low or your game doesn’t have a ton of audio.

SteelSeries promises that the charging case delivers 40 hours of battery life, with 10 hours for each use and three extra charges thanks to the case. I’ve found that the battery drains at around 10 percent an hour using the 2.4GHz connection, so the battery life looks like it will be solid. The case also offers wireless Qi charging (not Qi2) and a USB-C connection at the rear that will provide around three hours of play with 15 minutes of fast charging.

While the GameBuds work across consoles and PC, there are separate models for both Xbox and PlayStation. If you purchase the PlayStation model, it will only work on Sony’s consoles, PC, and mobile, but the Xbox version works across all platforms. The Xbox variant includes an additional chip to adhere to Microsoft’s security policies and a slider button to switch to Xbox compatibility. The white model is exclusive to PlayStation, and there is a black variant for both Xbox and PlayStation.

SteelSeries is entering an increasingly crowded earbud market for gaming, going up against Sony, Razer, and Logitech. The $159 price of the Arctis GameBuds is less than the $199 Sony asks for the PlayStation Pulse Explore, and the GameBuds even include the ANC support that Sony surprisingly omitted. Sony offers ANC on its $199 InZone Buds with impressive 12-hour battery life, but those still lack the wireless charging case that SteelSeries provides.

While the $149 Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed buds include ANC, they only deliver three hours per charge. Logitech’s $179 G Fits have better battery life at seven hours but lack ANC. SteelSeries has clearly found a gap in the market where it can offer low-latency earbuds with Bluetooth connectivity, a mobile app, ANC, and a wireless charging case, all for $159.

The Arctis GameBuds are available to preorder today in black and white versions, priced at $159.99 (€169.99). The GameBuds will be released worldwide on October 29th.