Culture

Enter The Gungeon‘s Composer Talks Rap, Video Game Music, And Bullet Hell

Enter the Gungeon demands so much of your attention. Mastering the bullet hell means enduring a cycle of dodging, rolling, shooting, and dying. Its intense gameplay is driven by the fierce beats of its soundtrack composed by Doseone, whose background as an indie rapper intersects his video game work in a way I didn’t quite…

20 Years Later, Snowboard Kids 2 Remains a Hidden Gem

While the Nintendo 64 wasn’t the most revolutionary home console, the clunky cartridge-based system still managed to house some of the best games of the mid-to-late ‘90s. Quite a few N64 classics, including Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong 64, and Pokemon Snap, will celebrate their 20th anniversaries in 2019. Joining these memorable 64-bit outings is…

Sunday Comics: Horrific Slime Farms

Hey there! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published June 2, 2017. This week’s comic was focused on Hourly Comic Day and was a bit too long to post, so we went…

I Tried These Weird New Cereals So You Don’t Have To

If you’ve walked down the breakfast aisle of your local supermarket in the last few months you’re likely aware that some sort of bizarre cereal apocalypse is upon us. Classic cereals of the past are currently being forced to bump elbows with some of the strangest new additions to the junk food breakfast market in…

A Look Behind TV’s Most Relatable Gaming Story In Ages

Writing an episode of a TV show that revolves around video games can be a tricky endeavor. It’s all too easy for showrunners to gravitate towards common tropes such as being sucked into a digital world or becoming overly obsessed with a flashy new game. Stories like these have been overused in the decades since…

Socialist Tabletop Game Reminded Me That You Have To Stop Infighting To Get Shit Done

On Wednesday night, a group of friends and I gathered to spark a revolution. We were playing Comrades, a tabletop RPG that puts its players in the shoes of leftist activists fighting for their causes. I make it no secret that I am a socialist. That’s right! I’m the political dissident the President is warning…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for having been invited to a lot of dinner parties, which feels very adult. It’s also for video games! I’m going to spend more time in Apex Legends this weekend. Last night a friend texted me to play this game with her by calling it “Ape Legs,” which I am hereby declaring…

Track: Everybody Wants To Rule The World | Artist: Andy McKee | Album: Joyland Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

West Texas Winter. Hudspeth, Texas. By Mobilus In Mobili | Flickr JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line! 

Some Of Our Favorite Cosplay From PAX South 2019

PAX South was held in San Antonio a few weeks back, and while there was a lot of great stuff going on, we’re here today to highlight some of the cosplay that was on show. Mineralblutook all of the photos you’ll see below, (as well as shooting a 12-minute video) while you’ll find both the…

An Elegant Vehicle For A More Civilized Age

Gregory Fromenteau is an art director at Ubisoft, who has worked on games like Rainbow Six: Siege. You can see more of Gregory’s stuff at his ArtStation page.

Astroneer Makes Outer Space Survival Relaxing

The worst problems are often ones we make for ourselves. For instance, while wandering Astroneer’s idyllic starter planet, I found a hole. Its alluring darkness contrasted the planet’s candy swirl aesthetic so perfectly that I couldn’t resist. I gently edged my way down one of its walls. Then I started sliding. Then I kept sliding.…

Breath Of The Wild Speedrunning Has Changed A Lot In Two Years

Yesterday, speedrunner sketodara01417 completed a speedrun for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in slightly over half an hour. As someone who used to casually speedrun the game, I was awestruck at how much things have changed. New glitches and massively different movement techniques have radically altered the game into something breathtaking to…

I Keep Trying To Play Multiplayer Games Solo

I’ve mostly been a single-player gamer. I grew up with Nintendo consoles and went more Metroid than Mario Kart, more Super Mario Bros. than Smash Bros. When I’m playing Destiny, I’ll enjoy some of its spontaneous co-op combat, but I don’t indulge in PvP. So why do I keep buying or trying multiplayer games? My…

Track: Piano Concerto No.3 | Artist: Beethoven (Alice Sara Ott with Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra) | Album: N/A Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sunrise. Dumaguete, Philippines. By Martin Tan. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line! 

Arise, Sir Skullface Of Skellingtown

Alexandr Novitskiy is an artist based in Ukraine. You can see more of Alexandr’s work at his ArtStation page

Kid-Friendly Twitch Streams Aim To Be The New Saturday Morning Cartoons

Since practically the dawn of consumer television, Saturday mornings have meant sitting down in front of the TV with a soggy bowl of sugary cereal and watching cartoons. But in the age of multiple 24-7 kid-focused cable channels, the Saturday morning cartoon is now a relic of the past. Now, a pair of Twitch channels…

Sadly, It’s Surprising That There Are Two Black Women In Apex Legends

Loading up Apex Legends for the first time, I saw two black women as playable characters. It was a strange and arresting feeling to see them. I’m still trying to understand my feelings about it. I’m usually quite wary of falling into what my coworker Riley MacLeod calls “the diversity trap,” which is to say,…

Track: Native Dancer | Artist: Sakanaction | Album: Shinshiro Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.