Luke Plunkett

Turns Out PC Gamers Really Want To Play Games With Sailing Ships

Take a look at the Steam charts today and you’ll see right near the very top, above a new Five Nights at Freddy’s game, above even the terrific Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, is something called Naval Action We first saw this game last year and I got a little excited (because: sails), but it’s now…

Comparing How “Strategic” Strategy Games Actually Are

Strategy games can be exciting. They can be…strategic. They can be easy, they can be hard. You might not have ever wanted to see some of the biggest games in the genre compared across these metrics—I’d never thought of it—but seeing them mapped out is pretty interesting! Yes, this is one of those infographics-fronting-as-advertisement kinda…

Making The Peace

Rasmus Poulson is an artist who has previously worked at IO Interactive and Square Enix. He’s currently an art director at Ubisoft. You can see more of Rasmus’ work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them…

Invisigun Heroes Is A Shooter Where Everyone’s Invisible, Even You

Invisigun Heroes is “a multiplayer, single-screen stealth battle arena game with a twist”. That twist being that every single player—even the one you’re controlling—is invisible on the screen. Which sounds like a nightmare! But while the player model is invisible, your effects on the game world aren’t, so any time you (or another player) run…

Bloodborne Cosplay Is Coming To Kick Your Ass

For all its critical acclaim, Bloodborne doesn’t seem to be a big hit on the cosplay scene. So nice job, Walrider, with this killer Gehrman the First Hunter outfit.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak: The Kotaku Review

“It’s Homeworld, but with sand” was my first thought when I saw Deserts of Kharak, a brand new prequel set in the same universe as Relic’s classic space strategy games. After actually playing it, that’s…about the gist of it. Homeworld, but with sand. The original Homeworld (and its two sequels) are beloved by many for…

Japan Won WW2, And Now Rules America With Giant Mechs

United States of Japan is an upcoming novel that the author says is a “spiritual successor” to Philip K Dick’s classic The Man In The High Castle. Only, instead of the Japanese and Germans sharing the US in the 1960s, Japan is the sole oppressor, and they’re lording it over America with an army of…

Pacifist Call Of Duty Player Refuses To Shoot The Bad Guys

Kent Sheely is playing through the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, only he’s doing it with one very strict rule: no killing. OK, so it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist: An attempt to play through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare without killing anyone. The rules are I’m only allowed…

The Game Boy Macro 

Anthony Thomas will take your old Nintendo DS, rip off its top screen, move the speakers, clean things up, paint it and turn it into something way cooler: a Game Boy Macro, an unofficial, over-sized brother to Nintendo’s actual (and wonderful) Game Boy Micro. NeoGAF user SmiteOfHand got one the other day and it looks…

Look At This Transistor Statue

It’s $35, and it’s fantastic (via Super Punch)

We Get It, Elf, You Vape

Nuare is an “outsource studio” based in Canada who have quietly helped out on the creative side of games from companies like Bethesda, Microsoft and Capcom. You can see more of Nuare’s work at their company site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save…

The Tower Sounds Like Deus Ex vs Dredd

Back in 2014,indie studio Interdimensional Games released CONSORTIUM, a neat little thing that blended adventure gaming with FPS and RPG elements. Today, in news filed under “unexpected but pleasant surprises”, they announced a sequel. CONSORTIUM: The Tower looks to take the first game’s basic premise—dropping the player in a single setting then having them encounter…

Fans Remaking Original Metal Gear Solid In HD, And It Looks Great

Metal Gear fan Airam Hernandez is leading an effort to recreate the entire original 1998 Metal Gear Solid for the PC. Only this time it’ll be using Unreal Engine 4. With a little help from Dan Meadowcroft, who is handling music, they’ve just released the first trailer for the project, which is called Shadow Moses…

Track: Oh Mii Darling Don’t Shop (Remix)| Artist: Stephen Mlinarcik/Run the Jewels | Album: N/A Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Giving A TIE Fighter A Firmware Update

Davison Carvalho is an artist from Brazil who currently works at Epic Games. As a specialist in user interfaces—and fictional ones in particular—Carvalho has some interesting ideas on the subject, whether it be for a TIE Fighter’s HUD (oh, what we wouldn’t give for a new X-Wing game) or the menu for a video game…

How A League Of Legends Trophy Is Made

Those big trophies that the winners of League of Legends tournaments get don’t just appear out of thin air. Someone has to design and build them, and in this case, that someone was cosplay/props legend Harrison Krix, of Volpin Props. Going off some sketches made by his friend Tom, Krix had four weeks to build…

Meep! MEEP!

Beaker x Akira, by Ryan Lang (whose work we’ve featured a few times before). It was done for Dan LuVisi’s upcoming book Popped Culture

Please, More Cosplay Documentaries Like This

Well, this looks cool: a bunch of friends who cosplay together as Sailor Moon characters worked with a production studio to make a very slick documentary about their outfits, friendships, challenges and adventures. I wish more cosplayers (or people working around cosplay) did this kind of thing! Yes, it’s nice seeing pictures and videos of…

Fan Updates 2002 GameCube NFL Game With 2015 Rosters

It takes some fiddling, but a dedicated fan has made sure that if you want to use the current roster of NFL players in a GameCube sports game released in 2002, you can. The update for NFL Blitz 2003 (which was also released on PS2 and Xbox) is courtesy of johnz1 over on Tecmo Bowl.org…

Redesigning Star Wars’ Coolest Vehicles (Using LEGO)

Whether it’s Ralph McQuarrie’s original vision or more recent efforts, Star Wars is famous for its sweet vehicle designs. Yet over the past month, talented LEGO builders have been messing with the iconic Snowspeeders and X-Wings, redesigning them to either look more contemporary, or just look cooler. They’re entries in a competition over on From…