Nathan Grayson

Steam Curators Need A Revamp

Steam is a howling vortex of games both brilliant and terrible. Steam curators were supposed to be part of an effort to cut down on the chaos. I can’t help but feel like the system failed. For those who don’t really pay attention to Steam curators (I get the impression that’s a fair number of…

Counter-Strike Player Wins Match By Closing Door Over And Over

Beware, law-abiding citizens. Terrorism has a deadly new weapon: the door. Counter-Strike player thenuker00 posted a highlight clip in which they—as the last surviving member of their team—stole back every last morsel of momentum the hands of fate had so cruelly wrenched away. By bopping the other team with a door. It was some Three…

Seven-Dollar Steam Movie Is Actually Just A Notepad Document [Update]

Jäsøn is an episodic movie series that just popped up on Steam. Or at least, it claims to be. It’s in Early Access, which for now means words on digital paper. For sale. For actual money. Described as a “satirical webserial about a wannabe serial killer” that unravels “the ethical, moral & sociological threads that…

Undertale: The Kotaku Review

People don’t just like Undertale; they love it. This game is personal for them. It’s personal for me, too. Undertale is a JRPG-inspired game (think Earthbound, more than Final Fantasy) where you don’t have to hurt anybody, unless you want to. You play as a kid who’s fallen into a world of monsters, and their…

Sketchy Developer Allowed Back On Steam Even Though Last Game Was Booted

Earlier this year, Valve gave Steam users unconditional refunds on a game called Journey of the Light, which claimed to have seven expansive levels, but actually contained just one unbeatable area. The game was then removed from sale. Recently, however, the developer—who goes by the moniker Lord Kres—added two new games to Steam Greenlight, Valve’s…

Steam is having a big Halloween sale It’s a celebration of spooky games (and a handful of less spooky games, like Shadow of Mordor and Battleblock Theater). The sale runs until Nov 2. If you’re overwhelmed by options, check out our list of the best horror games for a place to start.

A Dog Butt Game Controller, Built With Disabled Gamers In Mind

Butt Sniffin Pugs is a game controlled by a giant tennis ball and a stuffed dog butt. And yet, the game is more than just a joke. I got to play a bit of the game—which sees dogs run around in highly interactive environments and gain new powers like bite and pee by sniffing butts…

A new Steam update will make things significantly better for people with lots of games. The update just entered public beta, and it reduces Steam start-up time for people with large libraries and improves library performance in Big Picture Mode. My sale-engorged library just let out a whimper of relief.

Here’s how LittleBigPlanet creator Media Molecule’s next game, Dreams, will actually play. You’ll directly control a tiny “imp,” which will allow you to possess any character and add stuff to game worlds as you explore them. You know, just like in real dreams.

Boundless is looking nice. The PS4 and PC (currently in Early Access) builder/explorer displays definite shades of Minecraft, but with MMO elements and portals connecting worlds. It’ll be out in late 2016.

The Best Games I Saw At IndieCade

“Indie” might be an increasingly nebulous term these days, but the festival celebrating it was home to some damn intriguing games. IndieCade—which took place over the weekend in Culver City, California—is a smaller festival in the grand scheme of video game events, but it still managed to cram its tents with an overwhelming number of…

An FPS Where You Can Invent Absurd New Guns On The Fly

When it comes to guns, Stack Gun Heroes does not fuck around. The game recently rock-and-roll knee slid onto Steam Greenlight, and its main hook is the ability to stack guns together to build… well, get a load of this madness: There will be tons of gun mods, and you’ll be able to stack them…

The Steam mobile app just got a major update. Primarily, it adds new Steam Guard functionality and the ability to take care of Steam market transactions while on the go. It is, however, still kinda clunky in places. Oh well, progress! Can we get in-home streaming to our phones next?

I Made Some Tough Choices In Tales From The Borderlands‘ Finale

Tales from the Borderlands’ finale was one hell of a ride. With a veritable bouquet of guns to your head, what choices did you make? (Tales from the Borderlands spoilers ahead!) As you might have already read, I adored Tales from the Borderlands’ final episode—and the whole series in general. Like other Telltale series, Tales…

Kingdom Strips Strategy Games To The Bone

Strategy games sometimes get dinged for being too complicated. Kingdom strives to be minimal. Kingdom is a sidescrolling strategy/management game that just launched on Steam, where it’s been in and out of the top ten best-sellers for the past day. It’s not hard to see why: true to its regal nature, the game’s got luxurious…

Proof That Counter-Strike‘s Guns Are Surprisingly Unreliable

Sometimes Counter-Strike’s guns will just miss, even if you’re aiming perfectly. Guns that some people believe are solid at all ranges—like the AK-47—suffer the most. Basically, even if you’re aiming like you’ve got the eyes of an eagle and the steady hand of a stone statue (of someone who’s really great at aiming), there’s a…

The Steam Stream Plays Murder, A Gorgeous Cyberpunk Adventure [Update: Finished]

Murder is a cyberpunk adventure with a great look and an interesting concept. Watch me play it right now. After a few months of hiatus (I moved, I didn’t have reliable Internet for a while, it was A Whole Thing), The Steam Stream is back! Today I’m gonna play Murder—probably all the way through, because…

Fan Creates Sequel To Undertale… In A Wrestling Game

Some games have fans. Undertale, the RPG in which you don’t have to hurt anyone, has a bonafide fandom. They make some weird, wonderful stuff. Case in point: Alfredo Dizon, prolific re-creator of other video games in WWE video games, made an entire Undertale saga in WWE 2K14. This isn’t just, like, “Oh hey, I…

Steam’s Latest Hit Is Basically Firefly: The Video Game

Spaceships? Weird characters? Endless amounts of cheesy cowboy music? Alright, Rebel Galaxy, let’s do this. Rebel Galaxy is Steam’s latest surprise top seller, and its start screen might be the most bluntly apt summation of a game I’ve encountered all year: “COWBOY MUSIC. SPACESHIPS. LASERS. FUCK YOU, YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY NOW BECAUSE THERE IS…

Ark: Survival Evolved, As Told By Steam Reviews

Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the biggest games on Steam. It’s also still in Early Access. Most importantly, though, it has dinosaurs. And poop. Ark’s definitely not done yet, but it already has more than 40,000 Steam reviews. They’re mostly positive, with a not insubstantial number of negatives dinging the game for too much…