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CultureLet’s Talk About How Much Mass Effect 2 Rules
Mass Effect 2. It’s widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, a sweeping space opera that set the standard for modern role-playing games. One of us (Ari Notis) is just now playing it for the first time, ahead of next year’s remastered trilogy. The other (Ash Parrish) basically has a PhD…
Ash Parrish & Ari Notis Published December 28, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsI Went On Vacation And Ended Up In A Video Game
On a trip to a state park, I’m pretty sure my partner, my dog, and I stumbled into a video game. My own personal isekai Last weekend, my partner Travis and I took my dog and traveled three hours south to the Hocking Hills area of Ohio, where we stayed in a rented cabin for…
By Ash Parrish Published December 25, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewAsh Parrish’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
Ahh! My first “Top 10 Games” post for Kotaku, so exciting! Arriving here has fundamentally changed my relationship with gaming. I have a lot more time to play a lot more brand-spankin’ new games, versus the slow arrival to already well-beloved titles that was typical of my pre-Kotaku life. So if you see some non-2020…
By Ash Parrish Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryReturn Of The Obra Dinn Is Scratching My Cyberpunk 2077 Itch
There are a lot of “want to play something cyberpunk without playing Cyberpunk 2077” posts going around and I have an addition to suggest: claims adjuster with a twist simulator Return of the Obra Dinn Wait, let me explain. I’ve played very little of Cyberpunk 2077, confining myself to the character creator and the prologues…
By Ash Parrish Published December 16, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformCyberpunk 2077’s Character Creator: The Kotaku Review
The thing that interested me the most about Cyberpunk 2077 was its character creator. I’m someone who’s spent a lot of her time thinking about character creators and how they work for people who are not cis, white, able bodied, or male. I had hope that Cyberpunk’s creator would meaningfully include the wealth of human…
By Ash Parrish Published December 15, 2020 -
CultureWhat The Hell Is Going On In That Mass Effect Trailer?
I have not been able to stop thinking about the Mass Effect trailer from last night’s Game Awards. After the seemingly definitive end of the Shepard trilogy and the personally unsatisfying Mass Effect: Andromeda, I had given up hope that BioWare could create a new Mass Effect game that I could be excited about. But…
By Ash Parrish Published December 11, 2020 -
CultureNew Mass Effect Game Very Briefly Teased At Game Awards
A new Mass Effect was teased during the the 2020 Game Awards. Once a critical darling, the future of the Mass Effect franchise fell into doubt after its 2017 entry, Andromeda, shipped in a shoddy state and was poorly received by players and critics. Check out the teaser trailer below. No word on if this…
By Ash Parrish Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureDragon Age 4‘s New Trailer Wasn’t Much
Earlier this week, BioWare tweeted that it would be offering a sneak peek at Dragon Age 4 during The Game Awards. The reveal was an extremely short cinematic featuring narration from fan-favorite Varric Tethras. Check it out below. The trailer teases a new protagonist with new companions in a new setting (which is totally in…
By Ash Parrish Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureDead Space Creator Is Making A New Space Horror Game Set In The PUBG Universe
The Callisto Protocol is a new survival horror game from the creators of Dead Space. “The game challenges players to escape the maximum security Black Iron Prison and uncover its terrifying secrets,” according to the game’s press release. Striking Distance Studios, led by former Visceral Games vice-president Glen Schofield, is creating a new survival-horror game…
By Ash Parrish Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsShitty Dragon Age Voice Actor Has Me Considering Deleting My Fanfiction Library
Last week, two prominent BioWare employees, Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah, announced their departure from the studio. Following this, Mark Darrah, now the former executive producer of the Dragon Age series, was attacked on Twitter by Greg Ellis, the voice actor for Cullen Rutherford in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Ellis took to his personal YouTube channel…
By Ash Parrish Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsFour New Short Stories Let Us Speculate About Dragon Age 4’s Plot
This year’s Dragon Age Day was a mess. Two of BioWare’s beloved executives quit, a voice actor for one of Dragon Age’s beloved characters personally attacked one of those executives on Twitter, and then went on an exceedingly unhinged rant on YouTube while performing as that character. The mess unfortunately overshadowed the only good news…
By Ash Parrish Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureSpeaking From The Chest: Streamer Receives Death Threats After Holding Console Makers To Account
Back in May, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, the juggernauts of the gaming industry issued statements in solidarity with Black Lives Matter while stating the need to do more to support their Black fans, creators and employees. Xbox tweeted, “Xbox stands together with our fans, creators, colleagues, friends, and the entire African American…
By Ash Parrish Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWoW’s Revendreth Makes Me Question If Bad People Deserve To Go To Hell
I really didn’t want to have to think about my country’s carceral state while playing a video game and yet, while strolling through Revendreth, learning about its vampiric venthyr denizens and where they fit into the bureaucracy of Death that is the Shadowlands, my mind couldn’t help but make the connections. Revendreth is a miserable…
By Ash Parrish Published December 7, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsNew To Dragon Age? Start With The Third Game, Inquisition
In honor of the Dragon Age games arriving on Xbox Game Pass and in celebration of today’s Dragon Age Day—and as some much-needed self-care, because the news surrounding this hallowed Day has been nothing if not depressing—I’m here to offer a tip to any Dragon Age newcomers eager to explore the world of Thedas for…
By Ash Parrish Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureDragon Age Voice Actor Potentially Out After Twitter Attack On Series Writer Mark Darrah
Yesterday BioWare general manager Casey Hudson and lead Dragon Age series writer Mark Darrah resigned from BioWare, spawning a wave of concern in fans over the continued health of the studio’s popular franchises. Today, Greg Ellis, the actor who voiced Dragon Age’s Anders and Cullen, took to Twitter to personally attack the writer, prompting a…
By Ash Parrish Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureBioWare Studio Head, Dragon Age Producer Both Leave Studio
Casey Hudson is leaving BioWare, again. In a blog post announcing his departure, the creative director of the Mass Effect series and now former studio general manager of BioWare wrote, “I’m incredibly fortunate to have had a career where I’ve been able to work with brilliantly talented people, create entire worlds from our imaginations, and…
By Ash Parrish Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryArdenweald Is The Best Shadowlands Zone And It’s Not Even Close
My Shadowlands experience has been an interesting curve. It started poorly in Bastion, picked up in Maldraxxus, and now, in Ardenweald, I’m at the top of the curve. Everything in this zone—the story, the questing, just being in Ardenweald is WoW at its best. Of all the new zones in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, I…
By Ash Parrish Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureSpend Less Time On Fire With New Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch
Baldur’s Gate 3 has a new patch filled with nifty quality of life adjustments, as well as new story changes that I’m eager to see. New to Patch 3 is a new reward system for players who don’t employ the typical “party of murder hobos” tactic common in most Dungeons and Dragons games. “Patch 3…
By Ash Parrish Published December 2, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryAfter A Disappointing Start, WoW: Shadowlands’ Story Picks Up Big-Time In Maldraxxus
The more I think about Bastion, the more I’m glad I put the golden fields and star-dotted skies of that deceptively beautiful hell behind me for the pus-green, boil-covered and fleshy pastures of Maldraxxus. Seriously. Even though I knew I’d be trading one of the most beautiful zones ever designed in 13 years of World…
By Ash Parrish Published December 1, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWasting My Time In WoW And Destiny 2 Is Good Actually
In World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, I’m level 59 and 7/8ths, have completed three of the five new zones, and I still don’t think I’m enjoying myself. In Destiny 2, I’m stumbling around Europa while I clumsily figure out (sometimes embarrassingly late) what the hell all my warlock powers do. Other than a few, fleeting moments,…
By Ash Parrish Published November 30, 2020
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