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CultureKotaku Game DiaryWarframe Guilts Me Into Playing By Making My Dog Hate Me, And I Don’t Love It
You don’t really quit Warframe. When Hades, Baldur’s Gate 3, and a slew of other Extremely Me Games came out last month, I knew I’d be taking a hiatus from the cyber ninja space opera that’d taken over my life, but I also knew I’d be back. Last week, I returned after more than a…
By Nathan Grayson Published October 26, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThanks To My Childhood, I Can’t Throw Out My Console Boxes
My first console was a PlayStation, a gift from my mother’s boyfriend. I don’t remember asking for it; I think it was a gift to curry favor. My mother had an antipathy towards video games that bordered on hostility, so while she didn’t outright ban my sister and me from playing them, it was very…
By Ash Parrish Published October 22, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryCozy RPG Ikenfell Uses Cats As Save Points
Ikenfell, released earlier this month on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, is an excellent little RPG that puts a tactical spin on the reflex-based battle mechanics of the Mario franchise’s role-playing spin-offs. It also uses cats as save points which, come on, of course I’m going to write about. Cats snooze in every…
By Ian Walker Published October 22, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Can’t Stop Playing Picross, Send Help
I’m going to make this quick so I can get back to the game that’s making me write this in the first place: Picross has taken over my life. Mario’s Super Picross (pronounced PIE-cross) is a free puzzle game on the Super Nintendo service available to all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. (Yes, I know the…
By Ash Parrish Published October 20, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWorld Of Warcraft’s Speedy New Leveling Experience Leaves Me Cold
I started a new World of Warcraft character last week, following the release of the Shadowlands expansion pre-patch that, among other things, reduced the game’s level cap from 120 to 50. I’ve only adventured in two different zones and I’m already level 32. It’s all going by so fast. World of Warcraft launched in 2004…
By Mike Fahey Published October 19, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryFinding Player Homes Is One Of The Best Parts Of Fallout 76
I was out in the middle of the wasteland, low on health, guns near broken and over-encumbered by a bunch of junk and loot. I had just explored a big building and came out into a pack of radscoprions. They nearly killed me, but I barely got away. Yet more deadly things could appear at…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 18, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryIn Baldur’s Gate 3, Some Of The Simplest Abilities Are The Most Powerful
I’m new to Baldur’s Gate, so the concept of video games based on Dungeons & Dragons mechanics is completely foreign to me. As I navigated the game I encountered a number of occasions where I’d get my tiefling’s well-crafted ass handed to me in battles because I was too underleveled or too unlucky with my…
By Ash Parrish Published October 16, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryDear Video Games, I’m Begging You: Cut It Out With The Spiders
Torchlight III, an action role-playing game that came out this week, starts innocuously enough. You choose from a cadre of traditional fantasy roles (mage, archer, soldier, or person with mountainous biceps and a murder train) and go on your merry way killing goblins. In short order, you’re sent into a dungeon that’s loaded up with…
By Ari Notis Published October 15, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryComic Book Covers Make Lousy Video Game Collectibles
First Marvel’s Avengers, now G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout. Over the past couple of months two video games, one a major release and one G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout, have rewarded my exploration and gameplay efforts with the front covers of classic comics. If you’re going to give me a comic book, give me the whole damn…
By Mike Fahey Published October 14, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThey Finally Did It: Fallout 76 Is Pretty Good Now
Last April I bought a PC copy of Fallout 76 for $17. It was such a cheap price that I finally couldn’t resist trying it out. After five or so hours of doing some quests and building a small shack I called home, I moved on. While I enjoyed exploring the world, the performance issues,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 8, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryEvery Game Needs A Dedicated Pass-And-Play Mode
Every video game supports pass-and-play multiplayer. Just find a stopping point, hit pause, and hand the controller to a friend. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time’s pass-and-play is the same sort of thing, only the game’s got built-in prompts and per-player summaries at the end. I appreciate the hell out of that. Welcome to Kotaku’s…
By Mike Fahey Published October 5, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiarySpelunky 2’s Turkey Man Doesn’t Respect My Labor
Most everything in Spelunky 2 is out to kill you, so it’s always nice to come across Yang, a random NPC who mostly just chills in a little hut and talks about turkeys. But as my explorations continue to improve, so too has my knowledge of Yang’s racket, and I’m disappointed by what I’ve discovered.…
By Ian Walker Published October 2, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryGenshin Impact Gets A Lot Better After The Lengthy First Quest
Genshin Impact, a free-to-play totally-not-Zelda game that came out this week for PC, PS4, and mobile, starts slow but quickly picks up the pace. If you’re just starting out and aren’t immediately gripped, that’s fair, but don’t throw in the towel just yet. Stick with it through the first, lengthy prologue quest. Yes, it’s a…
By Ari Notis Published October 1, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI’m Trying To Kill Fewer Enemies In Spelunky 2
Spelunky 2 can be a violent experience. While searching for the main character’s parents is its ostensible goal, you sure do a lot of killing along the way. I’m doing my part to stem the tide of violence with a self-imposed goal: kill as few enemies as possible. Much like its predecessor, the world of…
By Ian Walker Published September 28, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWhipping Arrows Out Of The Air Is Still Super Satisfying In Spelunky 2
There are a lot of ways to deal with arrow traps in Spelunky 2, but the most satisfying strategy is simply whipping the arrows out of the air before they hit you. Everything in Spelunky 2 is out to kill you. Make one wrong move and you’re liable to get tossed around the level like…
By Ian Walker Published September 21, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Guess I Actually Like Roguelikes Now
Roguelike is a dirty gaming word to me: I can’t think of a genre of game that appeals to me less than one in which you do the same things over and over again in slightly tweaked variations until you somehow find the magical combination of paths, abilities, or spells to win the game. But,…
By Ash Parrish Published September 21, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI’m Sorry, Spellbreak Player I Eliminated To Get My First Win
I remember it like it was yesterday—even though it was, in fact, several days ago. You were a sprightly mage in a hood, as are approximately 70 percent of Spellbreak players, because the game doesn’t have many cosmetics yet. I was a tall sort of rent-a-hero looking dude. You might remember me because I threw…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 16, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Keep Discovering Great Indie Games In Xbox Game Pass
Throughout my time with Undermine—which has been in early access on PC since 2019 but received a full release last month for PC and Xbox, where it’s part of the Game Pass library—I’ve seen a lot of good soldier-miners die. Bryeb got trampled by a bobo, a large primate that indiscriminately charges at anything in…
By Ari Notis Published September 11, 2020
