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CultureKotaku Game DiaryThe End Of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is Finally Within My Reach
The developers of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey have been moving the game’s finish line farther out since October of last year, but I think I’m finally about to catch it. This sums up my gaming experience these days, perpetually racing toward a moving goal. At launch Odyssey was already a marathon, a game with not one…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 29, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Finally Understand The Appeal Of Escaping Into A Video Game To Cope With Stress
For most of my life, I never quite understood escapism. I knew how powerful video games could be, how seductive and wonderful their worlds were, but I never quite understood the idea of wanting to melt through the screen and leave the real world behind. After I’ve had string of rotten luck and high stress,…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 26, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryHaving Someone To Pass The Controller To Makes Single-Player Games Better
I don’t play a ton of shooters, but after getting super obsessed with Apex Legends, I wanted to try Titanfall 2. I also wanted my boyfriend to try Titanfall 2, but I’d always rather play with someone sitting on the couch than online. Me and my boyfriend live about 10 minutes from each other—it would…
By Gita Jackson Published July 25, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryHelping People In Dragon Quest Builders 2 Gives Me So Much Joy
In Dragon Quest Builders 2, you play as a little anime friend who knows how to build stuff in a world where building things is outlawed. It’s very funny. Often in the game’s opening hours, you will construct something like a simple straw mat, and people will look at you like you invented a bubble…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 24, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Brought My Switch To A House Full Of Kids And All Hell Broke Loose
I’m visiting my twin sister in Texas this week, where she has a lot of cool stuff: a swimming pool, the world’s most perfect dog, two horses, and my four nieces and nephews, aged 5 to 11. I have one very cool thing that I could offer to them: a Nintendo Switch. I thought it…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 23, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Braved A Heat Wave For A Desolate Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Event
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite had its first Community Day this past Saturday. There was a heat wave in my area, but I headed out to play the game anyway. Ever since Wizards Unite came out, I haven’t run into anybody else playing it, and I figured the Community Day would be the chance to finally…
By Maddy Myers Published July 22, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Play Destiny As A Warlock But Now Think I Should Be A Titan
As far back as I can remember, I, like Ray Liotta, have always wanted to be a Warlock. My daddy was a Warlock. His daddy was a Warlock. Warlockin’ is in my blood, I thought as I started up Destiny for the first time in 2014. When Destiny 2 was released three years later, I…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 19, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThe Strange Guilt Of Changing Jobs In An MMO
As I continue to lose myself in the world of Final Fantasy XIV’s latest expansion, writing guides on how new folks can get started and fighting terrifying raid bosses, I’ve also taken the time to experiment with new jobs. I followed my co-worker Mike Fahey’s lead and started the new Dancer job. And oh my…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 18, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiarySometimes It’s Nice To Stop Mid-Game And Watch The Players Around You
Yesterday I logged on to Destiny 2 for the first time in a very long while, intent on clearing out a chunk of the massive to-do list my character had accrued since this summer’s Season of Opulence update began. One of my many bounties and challenges involved killing a bunch of Fallen enemies on the…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 17, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Love Games About Bluffing (Or Do I?)
I love games that involve bluffing, even though I can never tell when any of my friends are lying. This past weekend, my poker night buddies and I played a tabletop game called Skull, which involves bluffing. I didn’t win, perhaps because I have too much faith in my friends. The apocryphal origin story of…
By Maddy Myers Published July 16, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryAfter Years Of Confusion, I Finally Understand How To Play Bridge
This weekend I faced my oldest nemesis: the card game Bridge. I don’t remember the first time my mom tried to make me play Bridge with her. In my memory, this cursed card game has been the bane of my existence since I was old enough to hold cards in my hand. I’ve never been…
By Gita Jackson Published July 15, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryA Noble Stranger Stayed By My Side While I Died In Fallout 76
You do not want me in your Nuclear Winter squad. I have a penchant for switching my drop location at the last second, landing on the map hundreds of meters away from my teammates. I’m never on mic. And I’m terrible at staying hidden. But none of this stopped another player, let’s call him Bill,…
By Ethan Gach Published July 12, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Can’t Deal With People Getting Ahead Of Me In MMOs
Earlier today, my Kotaku coworker Heather Alexandra posted what I am sure was an amazing and insightful look at the end of Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers expansion. An ending that I’m still a level and a half and a whole bunch of quests away from experiencing. I am so damn jealous. It’s not just Heather.…
By Mike Fahey Published July 11, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiarySome Hilarious Zelda Talk I Overheard At The Rock Climbing Gym
When your job involves talking about video games all day, you get pretty attuned to hearing people mention them when you’re outside of work. While eavesdropping can be a way to learn what games people are playing and thinking about, it can also provide neat insight into how those games fit into their lives. I’ve…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 10, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Can’t Stop Being A Reckless Moron In Fire Emblem: Awakening
I have spent most of the last week feeling incredibly hyped for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, one of a handful of games I’m most excited to play this summer. Whenever I’m feeling pumped for a new game, one thing I tend to do is go back and play or replay old games in the same…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 9, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Don’t Like Sea Of Solitude, And I Feel Really Bad About It
Sea of Solitude, a platforming exploration game published by Electronic Arts that came out July 5, tells the story of Kay, a young girl trapped in a watery world full of monsters. She travels the ruined world by boat, discovering where the monsters came from and why she looks like a monster too. The monsters…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 8, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Will Never Make A Mario
Super Mario Maker 2 gives players a chance to flex their creative muscles and craft their own levels. These can be difficult, trap-laden hell worlds, oddball narratives, or classic platforming romps. As I’ve started playing, I’ve realized that I’m never making a Mario. And while that means missing out on a large part of the…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 4, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Love When Video Game Music Is So Good I Forget To Actually Play The Game
One of my favorite games of the last several years is Facepalm Games’ The Swapper.I like it for a lot of reasons: it’s got this beautiful stop-motion clay art style, an immediately compelling hook in the titular Swapper, a gun that lets you clone yourself and zap your consciousness between those clones, and a disconcerting…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 3, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThe Randomly Generated Art Made By My Dwarf Fortress Dwarves Is Terrible
One of my favorite parts of playing Dwarf Fortress is the randomly generated legendary artifacts that my dwarves make. Usually, they’re epic pieces of armor or furniture or crafts that are decorated in brilliant gems and images from the dwarves’ memories. In the game I was playing yesterday, the dwarves kept giving me dumb pieces…
By Gita Jackson Published July 2, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryOne Trick To Getting Better At Mario Kart: Relax
This weekend I learned the key to not sucking ass at Mario Kart: relaxing your hands. My general stance on competitive multiplayer games is that I play them to have fun with friends, and therefore I can’t be stressed about whether or not I’m good at them. That was again the case this Sunday when…
By Gita Jackson Published July 1, 2019