Paul Tamayo

Games That We Feel Guilty For Not Liking

There are so many games and just never enough time. Sometimes I’ll put a game on ice so I can return to it later, especially if it doesn’t click for me at first. But a certain kind of guilt can bubble up inside me if the urge to pick a certain game back up doesn’t…

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Our Favorite Video Game Controllers

Ever since video games showed up in the living room, there have been weird ways to interact with them. From the joystick to the Joy-Con, hardware manufacturers are always trying to cook up the best version of the video game controller. Sometimes, those offerings can feel a cheap and plasticky. Other times, they’re masterpieces. I…

Games That Aren’t Easy To Recommend

There are some games that hit all my personal sweet spots, games that make me want to scream how good they are from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. But sometimes there are games that come with huge caveats. Maybe it takes a while to get to the good stuff, or they could be jam…

Is It Time To Finally Upgrade Your Console?

It’s hard to deny the appeal of a PlayStation 4 Pro, especially for those of us still playing on 1080p TV’s or those of us enjoying games with performance modes. The moment I changed that one setting and experienced combat in a smooth 60 frames per second in God of War, there was no way…

Watch Us Fumble Through A Date In Check Please

Check Please is a new physics-based game for PC, Mac and Linux where you fumble around using only a mouse to perform simple tasks like pouring wine before your date gets fed up and it’s game over— as if dates weren’t nerve-racking enough. Check out the video above to see see how smooth Heather is…

The Pros and Cons of Playing As A Man Or Woman In Games

Far Cry 5 lets you play as a man or woman. I was surprised to find that option when I started the game. And it got several of us on staff thinking: when presented with the option, do you play as a man or a woman in video games? And are there any series where…

How Do You Know If a Game Is Worth Finishing?

With many games asking players to spend dozens of hours in them to see their endings, it can be a game in itself deciding which ones are worth finishing. Movies use a more traditional structure to introduce characters and then present a conflict that keeps viewers engaged through the end to see it resolved. But…

PUBG’s New Map Codename: Savage with Heather!

Heather checks out the latest invite-only map for PUBG called Codename: Savage! Join us on YouTube live!

Sea of Thieves Is Empty Right Now, But We’re Still Having Fun

With Sea of Thieves officially out for a couple of weeks now, much of the discussion seems to have revolved around the lack of stuff to do. At Kotaku, many of us have found a ton of fun with the game. I asked our resident captains Chris Person, Heather Alexandra and Tim Rogers to sit…

Far Cry Arcade Is Rough Right Now

Far Cry 5’s Arcade Mode brings the series’ level editor back into the mix and now lets you create custom single player, co-op and multiplayer maps. It has potential for people to build cool stuff, but is a bit rough in these early days right after the game’s release. Over 9,000 items and structures are…

Far Cry 5 Changes A Lot More Things Than Just The Setting

We’ve heard a lot about Far Cry 5, and now we’ve finally played it. It doesn’t just offer a radically different setting from the series’ norm. It tweaks the Far Cry formula in some interesting ways—in terms of how you progress through its world, improve your character and more. We wanted to show all of…

Sea of Thieves is made to play with friends, sailing the high seas in search of treasure and frantic ship-to-ship battles. But what if you want to play solo? Well, it turns out it can either be a calm journey of self reflection or just straight up boring. Here’s a look at what it’s like…

It seems like every time a new celebrity reveals their love of anime, the internet immediately gets flooded with hot takes and old-school anime fans demanding receipts. But anime is just another form of culture that’s been popular for a couple of decades now. I sat down with Gita Jackson to discuss why watching anime…

Darwin Project Is Like The Hunger Games for Streaming

Darwin Project is the latest game riding the battle royale wave. It takes its inspiration from The Hunger Games series and turns every match into a game show where the audience can help determine who lives and who dies. Ten players fight to be the last one standing in a frozen landscape full of lava…

Machinarium Studio’s New Game Is A Comedic Point-And-Click Adventure

Chuchel is an adventure game set in a colorful world full of unique characters.You’re tasked with helping Chuchel, a tiny fuzzy black creature, and his little rodent friend get his sacred cherry back after it repeatedly gets stolen in a series of strange and hilarious ways. Made by developer Amanita Design, who previously created Machinarium…

Mulaka Is An Adventure Game That Explores Mexican Mythology

Mulaka is a third-person action adventure game based on Mexican mythology. In between platforming, melee combat, and puzzles, illustrations give a peek into the indigenous culture of Mexico. Mulaka is made by Mexican studio Lienzo in collaboration with anthropologists and actual Tarahumara leaders. The Tarahumara are an indigenous people of Northwestern Mexico who are renowned…

We Played Moss For PSVR

Moss is a PlayStation VR game that takes you on a journey through a whimsical fairytale world in which you control Quill, an adorable mouse. She’s equipped with a sword and shield, but she needs the player, who acts as a hooded guide called a “reader,” to help her unravel the mysteries of a mysterious…

Discovery Mode Turns Assassin’s Creed: Origins Into A Museum

The Assassin’s Creed: Origins Discovery Tour is out today. It turns Ubisoft’s detailed recreation of ancient Egypt from a giant sandbox full of parkour and murder into an interactive museum. Featuring 75 guided tours of monuments, buildings, and even people, each tour takes you down a predetermined path with interactive checkpoints. Checkpoints are narrated and…

VR Experience Relives The Assassination of MLK

A new virtual reality game lets you witness the civil rights movement up close and even witness Martin Luther King Jr.’s final moments. I Am A Man is a VR experience created by Derek Ham, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University. It transports you to Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 at the height of…