Jason Schreier

A Complete List Of Video Games I Played On Paternity Leave

I had a baby a couple months ago, and I took a few weeks off work to hang out with her. Mostly that meant giving her bottles, changing her diapers, and holding her on my lap as I played video games, because it turns out there’s nothing babies hate more than NOT being held at…

Here’s the lineup of games that will be on Google Stadia when it launches next week, including the Tomb Raider trilogy, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Red Dead Redemption II. All of these games are sold separately, of course, so it’ll be interesting to see how people react to Google’s ambitious streaming platform.

Disco Elysium: The Kotaku Review

The most important thing about Disco Elysium, an oddly titled role-playing game that came out last month for PC, is that it’s funny. Set in a beautifully ugly world of smudged watercolors and throbbing noir music, Disco Elysium appears at first to be the type of game that might take itself too seriously. It seems…

Blizzard Announces Diablo IV

Diablo IV is coming, Blizzard said today, finally confirming the much-anticipated sequel after years of speculation. A new cinematic trailer for the game showed a group of treasure hunters fighting against what could be demons, or private equity executives. Blizzard says the game takes place “many years after the events of Diablo III, after millions…

After A Terrible 2019, Blizzard Is Going All-In At BlizzCon

The plan was always to wait for BlizzCon. In November of 2018, after a PR blow-up surrounding the ill-advised announcement of the mobile game Diablo Immortal, Blizzard’s staff knew that they just needed to make it through the next year without incident. If they could, they’d be able to win fans back with a suite…

Sources: The Last of Us 2 Delayed To Spring [UPDATE: Confirmed]

The PS4 sequel to The Last of Us will no longer be out in February, sources tell Kotaku. Publisher Sony has delayed The Last Of Us Part II to this spring, just a month after announcing a release date of February 21, 2020. The news isn’t official yet, and Sony didn’t respond to a request…

Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s Box Art Sure Is Misleading

This is the box art, released this morning, for the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is out March 3, 2020. It’s killer art. But if you saw it on a store shelf, you would have absolutely no idea that it’s actually just part one of the remake. The game that publisher Square Enix is…

What’s Your Weirdest Video Game Ritual?

Do you have any bizarre rituals that you always perform in a video game, no matter what? This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss that question and much more. First, Kirk, Maddy, and I talk about the great new visual novel AI: The Somnium Files, the wonderfully addictive Fire Emblem, and Remnant: From the Ashes,…

Tips For Playing The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening is not a challenging game, but it can be a little abstruse. Originally released for the Game Boy in 1993 and overhauled for Switch in a delightful remake that’s out this week, the fourth Zelda is full of secrets, mysteries, and weird quirks to discover. Here are some tips to help you leave…

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: The Kotaku Review

The best feeling you can possibly feel while playing a video game is the act of swinging a sword in Zelda. I came to this conclusion recently, while playing the new remake of Link’s Awakening and trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes me love Zelda games so much. The answer, I think,…

Everything You Need To Know About Ni no Kuni Remastered

This week, the charming role-playing game Ni no Kuni will come to three new platforms. On two of those platforms it’ll be all fancy and remastered, and on the third it’ll be portable. Here’s everything you need to know about this new release. What’s a “Ni no Kuni”? Good question. Ni no Kuni is a…

Zero Escape Director’s New Game Is Another Twisty, Captivating Mystery

When you play a video game directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi, you know you’re always going to get a few things. There will be tangents about fascinating pieces of science and mythology. The characters will frequently make terrible lewd jokes. And the story will be a sprawling tapestry full of twists, emotional moments, and ruminations on…

Nicalis founder Tyrone Rodriguez posted a statement on Twitter last night in response to a Kotaku investigation into his racism and mistreatment of employees. Addressing the former but not the latter, he did not apologize but called his comments “indefensible and unacceptable.”

Inside The Ghosting, Racism, And Exploitation At Game Publisher Nicalis

At E3 in June of 2015, the game designer David Crooks was hanging out across the street from the L.A. Convention Center when he met a man named Tyrone Rodriguez. Crooks needed support for the console versions of his quirky top-down dungeon crawler, Enter the Gungeon, and Rodriguez’s company, Nicalis, seemed willing to help out.…

Zelda: Link’s Awakening‘s Chamber Dungeons Are A Big Disappointment

The appeal of a Zelda dungeon is in its intricacy. A good dungeon starts off feeling overwhelming, full of buttons and doors and strange obstacles. As you make progress, solving puzzles and acquiring items, it all slowly begins to make sense. You get a complete understanding of how the passages flow and the rooms all…

Final Fantasy VII Remake Continues To Look Like A Brand New Game

Blink and you’ll miss some of the brand new additions to Final Fantasy VII for the remake, as showcased in this new trailer that Square Enix put out in honor of the Tokyo Game Show this week. Among other things, there’s a new boss fight with Reno, some sort of dart minigame, a brand new…

Borderlands 3‘s Review Situation Sure Is Strange

Borderlands 3 reviews hit the internet this morning, but only at a select few websites, thanks to a bizarre scenario that publisher 2K says is in place because of security concerns. Typically, video game reviewers work off early retail copies of games provided by publishers. They can be either digital or physical, and they function…

Wade Callender, the former Gearbox lawyer who has been in a sprawling legal battle with the Borderlands studio and boss Randy Pitchford since late last year, has joined… the National Rifle Association. Yes, really.

After Disappearing For Six Years, Cube World Is Finally Coming Out

The much-anticipated, long-simmering-in-development-hell Cube World is actually coming out, according to its developer, who said today that the exploration game will be out either this month or next. “Cube World will be released on Steam!” wrote developer Wolfram von Funck on Twitter this afternoon, linking to the game’s new Steam page. “Hopefully around the end…

Nintendo Announces Some Sort Of Switch Fitness Thing

What is this thing? Nintendo says it’s a “new experience for Nintendo Switch” and that we’ll find out more next Thursday. Watch the video below and make your best guesses.