Ash Parrish

We’re Rebooting Kotaku Splitscreen With An Episode About Reboots

Rising like Godzilla from Tokyo Bay after a long 1,000 year slumber, it’s Kotaku Splitscreen! Yes, Splitscreen is back with both a brand-new cast and the blessing of the old one. (And by the way, if you’re missing the old crew, check out Maddy, Kirk, and Jason’s new podcast Triple Click.) For this new iteration…

Baldur’s Gate 3 Players Called Out For Their Basic-Ass Character Creations

Mere minutes after I posted my take on Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creator, Larian Studios (coincidentally) announced the release of a third hotfix for its long-awaited CRPG, which contained this intriguing morsel: “Before the fixes, let’s share something you’ve created yourselves (this is your own fault) through your choices in character creation. We took the…

I Spent Three Hours In Baldur’s Gate 3’s Character Creator And It’s Pretty Good

I love me a character creator. Buried in the deepest recesses of my brain lies the eight-year-old me who loved dress-up Flash games. Character creators in today’s games scratch the same itch, letting my inner child play with an even greater freedom of expression. So when Baldur’s Gate 3 hit early access earlier this week,…

I Am Two Shanghai Dragons Wins Away From My First Tattoo

You know how parents quantify the passage of time to an excited child in the number of sleeps? Well, instead of sleeps, I am two Shanghai Dragons wins away from getting my first tattoo. That’s because the Overwatch League Grand Finals tournament kicked off earlier today—much earlier today as, for the first time ever, the…

Did You Let The Vampire Succ, And Other Choices We Made In Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access

Baldur’s Gate 3 is out in early access this week. While noted Divinity: Original Sin II enthusiast Nathan Grayson and I (noted Divinity: Original Sin II hater Ash Parrish) suggest you wait for the full release before diving in, we wanted to talk about some of the different in-game story choices we made and how…

Blacktober Is A Hashtag Full Of Black Artistic Excellence

One of the first works of fiction I ever wrote was for my sister. She was a big Lord of the Rings fan and had the biggest crush on Orlando Bloom’s Legolas character, so I wrote a story starring a Black elf who fell in love with him. There were no Black people in Middle…

MGS3‘s “Snake Eater” Is Good Enough To Be A Bond Theme

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, I hope you’ve got some decent upper-body strength because we’re going to climb up a very, very long ladder listening to Metal Gear Solid 3’s dramatic and campy theme, “Snake Eater.” Metal Gear Solid 3:…

Why Everyone’s Horny For Hades

Hades is perhaps one of 2020’s games of the year. It’s an excellent roguelite, with an amazing story and addictive gameplay. But there’s another big reason why Hades is seeing such a massively positive response: Everyone is so friggin’ hot! Take main character Prince Zagreus, for example. I knew I was in trouble the moment…

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Delayed, Pre-Patch Expected October 13th

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has been delayed. Announced in a blog post, World of Warcraft executive producer John Hight cites the need for “additional polish,” and the strain of working from home during the covid-19 crisis, as the reasons for delay. “Blizzard has a commitment to quality,” Hight writes. “We believe Shadowlands will be something…

Please, For The Love Of God, Let Masahiro Sakurai Rest

So…Steve in Smash Bros. Ultimate, huh? Great. I have no dog in this Smash Bros. fight—while I don’t hate that Steve was announced, I was personally hoping for Overwatch hero Tracer, especially after this cryptic tweet from the Overwatch League a few days ago. Whatever your thoughts are on Steve, what I truly hope is…

Going Under’s Lo-Fi Soundtrack Makes Me Feel Like I’m Not Working At All

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, we’re heading into the office in Going Under, a roguelite dungeon crawler where work is hell. Going Under (playlist / longplay) is a game about navigating the hellscape of working in America. In Going Under,…

What Your Favorite Hades Weapon Says About You

In Hades, each Infernal Arm you use to escape from Hell has its own unique abilities. The different weapons—combined with the various perks and god-given boons you can choose and the artifacts you can equip—ensure no two escape attempts are quite the same. Like the gods, I do not play favorites when it comes to…

Going Under Is Another Roguelike In A Hellish Setting: Late Stage Capitalism

Capitalism sucks. It is a brutal economic system that is the source of poverty, war, famine, and the other two horsemen of the apocalypse. A new Steam, Xbox, PS4, and Switch rogue-like called Going Under takes all the dehumanizing and depressing bits of our current flavor of late stage capitalism, softens it with bright colors…

Earlier today, Nintendo announced it will be releasing information on upcoming DLC for Pokémon Sword/Shield. In June of this year, Nintendo released the Isle of Armor DLC as a part of it’s Expansion Pass, containing new gym trainers, updates to gameplay, and a new Pokémon, Kubfu. This announcement could possibly cover the second portion of the…

Black Athena: How Hades Gets Its Gods Right

I love Hades. It’s a great roguelike, has a cleverly-crafted story, and is stuffed with beautiful art and design. But what I like most about it is its commitment to diversity among its characters. Hades’ pantheon of Greek gods is diverse. Athena is a dark-skinned Black woman. Dionysus is south Asian. Hermes is east Asian.…

I Guess I Actually Like Roguelikes Now

Roguelike is a dirty gaming word to me: I can’t think of a genre of game that appeals to me less than one in which you do the same things over and over again in slightly tweaked variations until you somehow find the magical combination of paths, abilities, or spells to win the game. But,…

BlizzConline Coming February 2021

After cancelling BlizzCon in May, Blizzard has announced an online version of its massive convention will be held February 19-20, 2021. “While circumstances are keeping us from gathering in person this year,” Blizzard wrote in a blog post. “We’re putting together a little something early next year to channel the spirit of BlizzCon into the…

Final Fantasy XVI’s Trailer Looks Like A Mix Of IX And XII (And That’s Great!)

  One of the biggest surprises of the Sony PS5 event on Wednesday was the reveal of a new main-line Final Fantasy game, the 16th in the series (more like the 36th if you count all the sequels and spinoffs and Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus). Fans of the series are excited, and some…

Transphobic Creator J.K. Rowling ‘Not Involved’ in New Harry Potter Game

Warner Brothers, publisher of the upcoming open-world Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy, released an FAQ on the game’s official Discord yesterday. In addition to answering questions about the game’s development and platforms, the FAQ asserts that Rowling, who’s recently drawn criticism for transphobic statements, has no involvement in the game. Teased in yesterday’s PS5 event,…

Watch Dogs 2 is free on the Epic Games Store right now. In what is perhaps a mea culpa for including the wrong Watch Dogs protagonist in Watch Dogs: Legion, the Epic Games Store has Watch Dogs 2 available for free until September 24th.