The new sci-fi thrillerPrey is all about exploring an intricately designed space station. Unfortunately, it seems to want to lead you around that space station by the nose. That’s right, it’s me! The guy who’s always telling you to try playing games without minimaps and other navigational aids. I’ve played a couple hours of Prey…
You can now dress Kat from Gravity Rush 2 up like 2B from Nier: Automata. Visor and no-visor variants of 2B’s fashionable outfit are available as a free download from the PlayStation Store. Unfortunately, no corresponding outfit to make Raven look like 9S.
In the late 90s, video games sat on the precipice of a 3D graphics revolution. Everything was about to change, and it was gonna change fast Last week on Kotaku Splitscreen, Jason Schreier and I were joined by veteran video game programmer Brett Douville. Douville started out at LucasArts in 1998, where he worked on…
The first time I played Mount Wario, I thought, “Holy shit, that was a really good Mario Kart track.” In the weeks since then, my estimation of the track has only increased. It’s a doozy of a run, a rare single-lap race that doesn’t repeat, but instead is a straight shot through a lengthy and…
You can go several hours in Grand Theft Auto IV before you get a gun. Soon after that, you’re blasting your way through shootouts with SWAT teams. But for those first few hours, you’re just some guy in Brooklyn, trying to make a new life. I’ve been replaying GTA IV, which came out nine years…
You’re at a social gathering and the people you’re with start talking about games. Games you’ve never played. You listen along and laugh and nod, but you start to wonder if maybe you should say something. I’ve written the following guide for faking your way through conversations about some of the hottest games around. In…
FX’s Legion: An exuberant reminder of how fun superhero shows can be. What it is: A new FX show based on the Marvel character Legion, a powerful mutant in the X-Men universe. What I’ve watched: Finished the first eight-episode season last night after starting a few days prior. Definitely a fun show to watch all…
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild does not dole out rewards predictably. Often you’ll spend an afternoon figuring out some elaborate puzzle, only to walk away with some rupees or a weapon you didn’t need. Other times the reward will be just as “useless,” but more special than any pile of loot could…
I’m betting that a lot of people who played Far Cry 2 didn’t finish it. It’s a chaotic, grueling game, and it’s at least five hours too long. If you made it to the end, you got a finale just as flawed, ambitious, and bleak as the game preceding it. Spoilers will follow, of course!…
Last weekend I recorded this cover of my favorite song from Undertale. It was a fun process that gave me a new appreciation for people who make videos like this. Hope you like it! If I ever make another one, I promise it’ll have better lighting.
The Magicians Book One: A cynical fantasy that gets better toward the end. What it is: The first of Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy, probably best described as “Harry Potter, except with assholes.” Now also a Syfy TV series that I will probably never watch. Well, at least not until I finish the books. What I’ve read:…
You ever fight a video game boss where the music is so good, you draw the fight out so you can keep listening? In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there’s this mini-boss you can go fight in the desert. It’s called Molduga, and if you’re playing the game normally, you’ll probably just…
One set of armor in Horizon Zero Dawn stands above the others: The shield-weaver armor. It’s really good, and pretty hard to get. It’s also totally worth it. Most of the armor in Horizon has a specific application. This armor protects against fire, this armor against melee attacks. This armor gives you a stealth bonus.…
JRPG victory music is one of the best types of video game music. Every time you emerge from battle victorious, a familiar, stirring theme plays. I want that music to play in my everyday life. This post originally ran on 4/26/2012. Five years later, I’ve bumped it up and made a few edits, because Persona…
Rock Band was great, but Rock Band was also awkward and cumbersome. Now here comes Rock Band VR, a few years after most of us got rid of our last plastic instrument. It’s also cumbersome, and it’s also great. In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had with Rock Band in years. Rock Band VR…
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: A surprisingly sweet movie with a muggle who steals the show. What it is: The latest movie in the Harry Potterverse. Fantastic Beasts was a fictional textbook the kids read in the original books, which was then turned into a “real” textbook written by Harry Potter creator J.K.…
I’m finally playing Nier: Automata, and can confirm that it is a very odd, very interesting video game. Take, for example, this thing I came across when I was playing last night. As you make your way through the game’s compact but layered open world, you’ll undertake a bunch of sidequests for various characters you…
Persona 5 is a really good game. It’s also complicated and occasionally unforgiving, with a ton of rules to learn and systems to memorize. If you want to live your best possible year in Tokyo, you may want a little guidance. Persona 5 does an okay job of explaining itself to players, but there are…
Imagine your old high school. Picture the doors you’d pass through at the start of each day. See if you can recall the awkward conversations you had with your friends, or the smell of the cafeteria at lunchtime. Now throw all that in the garbage and replace it with something impossibly cooler, impossibly more stylish,…
Over the last two and a half years, I’ve played more than 1,000 hours of Destiny. Over the last five months, I’ve barely played any. This week I returned to the game, and let me tell you, it is no small feat to climb back into a game you used to play obsessively. This week…
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