Jason Schreier

The Messenger Is A Great New Metroidvania 

Back in the NES era, the late 80s and early 90s, there were two different types of games. Call them linear and non-linear. The linear games, like Super Mario Bros. and Ninja Gaiden, had you go through each level once and only once. The non-linear games, like Zelda and Metroid, allowed for backtracking and exploration.…

Four Key Tips To Get Good At Into The Breach

You should play Into The Breach, the brilliant new game from the makers of FTL. And if you are playing Into The Breach, here are some key tips that’ll help you get better at squashing aliens. Note: This article originally ran in February—we’ve bumped it up for the Switch launch of Into the Breach I’ll…

Battlefield V Delayed Away From Call of Duty And Red Dead 2

EA has delayed the next big Battlefield game a month, pushing it back to November 20 for what developer DICE says are “final adjustments to core gameplay.” There’s another good reason for the delay, though: the competition. Battlefield V had been previously scheduled for October 19, a week after Call of Duty: Black Ops 4…

Now That Amazon’s Pre-Order Discount Is Gone, Games Are Coming Back

One of the most common questions we’ve received over the past few months is some variation on this: “Why isn’t [game I want to pre-order] available on Amazon?” Now that Amazon has ended its 20% pre-order discount policy, that question may no longer be relevant. This afternoon, developer Insomniac Games announced that the upcoming Spider-Man…

A Ton Of New Indie Games Are Heading To Switch Soon

Bastion, Superbrothers, and Towerfall are all coming to Switch in the next few months, and the phenomenal strategy game Into the Breach is—wait for it—out today. Those are just a few of the games Nintendo showed off during a brief indie showcase this morning. Here’s the full list of release dates and announcements: Hyperlight Drifter…

The First Onimusha Is Getting Remastered

The 2001 action-adventure game Onimusha: Warlords is getting a remaster, publisher Capcom said today. It’ll be out on January 15, 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch. The remaster, which runs $20, will come with “updated features including high-definition graphics, widescreen display option, analog stick support, a readily available Easy Mode option, and new…

Victims Of Jacksonville Shooting Were Two Pro Madden Players

The two victims in yesterday’s shooting at a Madden tournament in Jacksonville, Florida were Taylor Robertson and Eli Clayton, professional Madden players who had both found success playing EA’s football simulation game. Robertson, who went by the handle Spotmeplz, was 27. He was from Ballard, West Virginia, and had made over $80,000 playing Madden, according…

Watch 48 Minutes Of Cyberpunk 2077 Gameplay Footage 

Two months after showing a behind-the-scenes demo of Cyberpunk 2077 to attendees at E3, developer CD Projekt Red has finally made that footage public. You can watch the video, which shows 48 minutes of the upcoming role-playing game, right here:

What It Was Like To Work On Final Fantasy XIV During The Launch Catastrophe

When Final Fantasy XIV first launched, in 2010, it was such a disaster that publisher Square Enix made the unprecedented move of taking it offline and launching a brand new version three years later. What was it like to be there? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, who heads up the translation…

Popular YouTuber Kills Self, Two Others In Fiery Crash

Eighteen-year-old YouTuber Trevor Heitmann, aka “McSkillet,” caused a massive accident yesterday in San Diego, California when he drove down the wrong side of a freeway and his car collided with another vehicle, killing two people and injuring one other. He also died in the crash. Police confirmed this evening that Heitmann was the driver involved…

How To Start Hollow Knight‘s New DLC, Godmaster

Hollow Knight, a wonderful video game starring a throng of adorable insects, got a brand new free piece of downloadable content today. It’s called Godmaster, it’s challenging as hell, and the game isn’t 100% clear about how to start it. If you just want a nudge in the right direction: You’ll find the new area…

Assassin’s Creed Is Skipping 2019

The next big Assassin’s Creed game won’t arrive for at least another two years, Ubisoft has said, confirming that the once-annualized series is annualized no more. “We are not going to have a full-fledged Assassin’s next year,” Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot told Gamespot at Gamescom in Germany this week. “It’s just because the teams were…

Now If Only Square Would Treat Final Fantasy VI On PC Like It Treated Chrono Trigger

Today, Square Enix announced that it has finished patching Chrono Trigger on PC, just days after releasing the fifth major update to the game since it launched six months ago. (Chrono Trigger is 50% off on Steam for the next week to celebrate.) Now if only Square’s other classic games would get the same treatment.…

People Keep Trying To Scam Their Way Into Free Video Games

When Sean Noonan announced the Steam release date for his game, an infinite runner called Jack B. Nimble, he started getting emails from people who wanted review copies. Normally, this would be great news for any developer. Getting enough attention from media outlets and streamers can pull a game from the dregs of Steam and…

Here’s a first look at Life is Strange 2, which stars two brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz, on the run from cops “after a tragic event that changes their lives forever.” The five-episode series will start on September 27 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC

Nvidia’s Beefy New Graphics Card Will Cost $1,200

The next set of graphics cards from Nvidia will start at $600 and go all the way up to $1,200, the company announced today, promising that the new RTX lineup will come out in September. Third-party versions will run a bit cheaper, from $500-$1,000. The most powerful entry in Nvidia’s option is the new RTX…

Prey‘s Director On The Polarizing Final Act: ‘There Was Definitely Too Much’

The problem with developing a video game is: Sometimes you need to stop. Even when you’re not totally happy with your final act. This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss all that and more. First, Kirk and I talk about the appeal of Dead Cells, the problems with video game grind, and Diablo III coming…

Three Rules The Makers Of Assassin’s Creed Origins Used To Design Quests

Assassin’s Creed Origins is an incomprehensibly large game, so packed with quests that most players will likely never see them all. If you do see them all, however, you may notice that they follow certain rules—rules that Ubisoft detailed pretty specifically while making the game Speaking on the AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast in an…

Here’s the official trailer for Diablo III on Switch, which leaked yesterday. It’s out this fall for $60 and includes all of the downloadable content Blizzard has released so far.

Inmost, announced today, is a narrative 2D platformer that looks spectacular. It’s developed by a Lithuanian studio called Hidden Layer Games and published by Chucklefish (Starbound, Wargroove, Stardew Valley), who have somehow turned into one of the most interesting publishers in the field.