Heather Alexandra

Persona 5 The Royal Adds New Phantom Thief, Comes Stateside Next Year

After way too many teases, Atlus has revealed details about Persona 5 The Royal. The upgraded edition of the 2016 RPG hit will add a new party member and expand on social elements like confidants and city exploration. The Royal was outlined in a trailer today, which dropped details on what to expect from this expanded…

A New, Annoying Ad Keeps Popping Up In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

A new in-game ad for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s second big expansion wouldn’t be so annoying if it didn’t appear repeatedly every time I paused checked my map or tried to access my inventory. While we’ve found a fix, the whole thing feels like marketing run amok. I first encountered this ad while doing the free…

Sekiro Speedrunners Are Using A Glitch To Swim Through The Air

Speedrunners use a variety of tricks to reduce Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice from a difficult combat gauntlet to a breeze. The fastest Any% runs now take less than 30 minutes, with the current world record at 24:37 at time of publication, held by Distortion2. Some tricks involve dying in the right place to avoid a…

World Visits are live in Final Fantasy XIV The new feature allows you to temporarily play on other worlds on the same server. Servers were shuffled to different “crystals” last night as well, and players can transfer to new homes free of charge for a limited time.

Dragon’s Dogma Is Getting The Fresh Chance It Deserves On Switch

I missed out on Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma when it first released in 2012. The reception was positive, if somewhat mixed. The Kotaku review noted that it was a game with potential that fell short. Since then, it’s developed a cult following thanks to intense monster slaying and a large open world. The upcoming Switch port…

Appreciating The Game Boy, Thirty Years Later

The Nintendo Game Boy turned 30 years old this weekend. Released on April 21, 1989 in Japan, it helped usher in an entirely new approach to gaming. Although the Game Boy wasn’t the first ever hand-held console, it’s still one of the best known, and its success showed that handheld gaming could be more than…

It Took 7 Years, But Now You Can Play Super Mario Bros. On The Commodore 64

A tireless developer, working for nearly seven years, has created a perfect recreation of Super Mario Bros. for the Commodore 64. This would have been huge in 1985. Today, it’s still pretty darn cool. This week, a developer called ZeroPaige released Super Mario Bros. 64, which he bills as a 1:1 recreation of Super Mario…

Blue Rogues, attack! I’m finally returning to my playthrough of my favorite game of all time, the Sega Dreamcast classic ‘Skies of Arcadia.’ I’m streaming it now on our Twitch channel! Come join chat for adventure, excitement, and good times! 

A Game About Meeting Cool Folks On A Hiking Trail

Before I moved to New York, I used to walk in the woods a lot. Sometimes, I’d drive with friends to mountains or parks and explore off the beaten path. A Short Hike, which is available for PC and Mac in this month’s Humble Bundle, captures the playful joy of walking on winding paths and…

Cuphead: The Kotaku Review

Cuphead turns players into perfectionists. The long-awaited hand-drawn action game is full of cartoony boss battles that demand enough precision and focus that even a single hit of damage feels unacceptable. Playing Cuphead is like a stage performance; every mistake is embarrassing, but the curtain call of each defeated boss is like nothing else. This…

Nintendo Adds A Zoom Feature To The Switch

The Nintendo Switch screen is pretty big, but if you’ve ever had trouble reading text or seeing details, the latest system update adds a nifty zoom feature. You can zoom in close and even lock the zoom in place. It’s a small but welcome feature that makes the Switch a little more accessible. System update…

Final Fantasy XIV’s New Crossover Event Is All About Chilling With Prince Noctis

Final Fantasy XV’s protagonist prince Noctis spends roughly 80 percent of his life in crossover events, from Cup Noodle sponsored quests or battling in Tekken to geeking out about Assassin’s Creed. His latest destination is Final Fantasy XIV, where he stars in a quest that’s all about slaying monsters and hanging with your bro, bro.…

Left Alive, the fascinating but super janky mech-intrigue game, is getting an easier difficulty mode. A new “Casual Mode” will hopefully make the experience more tolerable and give me an excuse to go back and enjoy some Front Mission mech battles.

Sekiro’s Smartest Boss Fight Is Against A Giant, Poop-Throwing Ape

There are plenty of tough bosses in Sekiro, from rival swordsmen to dangerous undead monsters. One of the best bosses sounds at first like it would be the silliest: a shit-throwing giant ape. But closer examination of this battle reveals a crash course on how to make a reactive and thematically interesting boss fight. It’s…

Sega Game Character Has A New Face Following Original Actor’s Drug Arrest

Sega’s crime thriller Judgment revealed the new face for the yakuza character Kyohei Hamura. The change was made after original actor Pierre Taki was arrested for alleged drug use. According to Sega, Taki’s replacement is not based on any real-life actor. Taki was arrested in March for alleged drug use after investigators searched his car…

The story continues! I’m moving on to episode two of Tales from the Borderlands right now on Twitch. Come join chat for laughs and some quality time with Handsome Jack.

Firestorm‘s Terrifying V1 Rocket Makes The Game Stand Out From Other Battle Royale

Firestorm, the gritty battle royale recently added to Battlefield V, can’t quite stand with the competition due to clumsy inventory management and UI. But it does have mass destruction, including the powerfully satisfying V1 rocket. Firestorm’s spectacle could set it apart from the pack. The Battlefield series has always been, in part, about destruction. Crumbling…

Ubisoft Removes Slur From Artwork In The Division 2

Ubisoft has apologized for the inclusion of street art in The Division 2 which contained a homophobic slur. The artwork was spotted by a player documenting odd and misspelled graffiti within the game. The image has since been removed from the game. As reported by Eurogamer, the artwork in question features an exaggerated portrait of…

Platformer’s Levels Are Twisty Mobius Strips

Video game players have been jumping over pits and collecting keys in platformers for a long time. Mobius twists the usual perspective to add fresh challenge and mind-teasing trickery. Mobius is a riff on classic platformers that’s currently available for the PC. You control an adorable little dude with overalls who needs to collect coins…

Breaking Out Of Bounds In Sekiro Makes It Even More Beautiful

Sekiro makes it a point to push back at players. From difficult bosses to winding world design, there’s friction that players need to fight against. Speedrunners and glitch hunters buck that trend. Last night while playing it, I broke out of bounds and it was a reminder of how even the most tightly composed game…