Culture

What Dark Souls Is Really All About

The first and sometimes the only thing people say about Dark Souls is that it’s hard. Really hard, migraine hard, ready-to-shoot-yourself challenging. The players say it (“I can’t take this!”). The people who are scared to play it, say it: “Wait, that’s the one that’s really hard, right?” Editor’s note: This article originally ran on…

Stick Fight Is A Perfect Game To Play With Non-Gamers

Most of the time, I want to be gaming. If you’re here, probably, you can relate. In the grand scheme of personality traits, that one isn’t so bad; just not 100% satisfiable in every circumstance. Sometimes I find myself in an unfortunate situation involving me, chilling, and several other people who don’t play games, also…

Track: Plainclothes Man | Artist: Elliot Smith | Album: Heaven Adores You OST Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Saddest Witcher 3 Cosplay

The tale of Olgierd and Iris is one of the most tragic to be found in The Witcher 3, which when you consider the rest of the quests in such a bleak, brutal game is really saying something. This is Lyumos paying homage to the character with some incredible cosplay, with photos by Kira We’ve…

X-Men’s Rogue, by Anastasia Komori. Photo by Akunohako

The Internet Reacts To Those Unused Pokémon Designs

Nintendo recently announced two new Pokémon games coming to Switch later this year and one that’s out now called Pokémon Quest. There’s also a bigger Pokémon RPG coming in 2019. The real news this week though is that there actually used to be a ton of weird and adorable Pokémon that were planned for Pokémon…

Night Colours

Mindy Lee is a concept artist and illustrator who has worked at places like Pandemic, Dark Horse (she’s been nominated for an Eisner!) and Amazon. You can see more of Mindy’s stuff at her Instagramand ArtStation pages. To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine…

Track: The Dark Sentencer | Artist: Coheed and Cambria | Album: The Dark Sentencer Single Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Streamer Solves Puzzle By Drawing Wang

Today on Highlight Reel we have esoteric puzzle solutions, H1Z1 plays, NHL slams, and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Catch up on all…

Vegeta’s Voice Actor Is Loving The New Dragon Ball Z Golden Age

If you ever find yourself in the cast of a Dragon Ball fight scene, Christopher Sabat has some advice. “You can either scream once, and make it really epic, and it really hurts, but you only have to do it one time,” explains the man who voices several cosmic soldiers in the Dragon Ball universe.…

‘Tis But A Flesh Wound

Marco Mazzoni is a concept artist who has worked for companies like Wargaming and CCP. And if that mech up top looks familiar, he was also involved in Battletech, which we featured in a showcase last week You can see more of Marco’s stuff at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the images…

What We Still Love About Cowboy Bebop, 20 Years Later

Cowboy Bebop first aired from April 3 to June 26 in 1998, and two decades later, it’s still one of the greats. Compete staffer Eric Van Allen started up a rewatch of the show and inspired all of the Cowboy Bebop fans on Kotaku and Compete’s staff to reminisce about this foundational and groundbreaking anime.…

The Internet Reacts To Pokémon On Switch

Last night Nintendo announced Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, two new Pokémon games coming to Switch in November. They may not be what people were expecting or hoping for, but any time there’s new Pokémon games, the internet is gonna freak out. Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are both based on Pokémon Yellow,…

Track: Bells & Circles | Artist: Underworld & Iggy Pop | Album: N/A Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Valve Removes School Shooting Game From Steam

After a maelstrom of controversy that had mainstream news outlets and an anti-gun violence charity weighing in, Valve has removed mass shooting game Active Shooter from Steam. The unreleased game drew furor last week over its shameless exploitation of tragic subject matter. Valve, meanwhile, took flack from fans and outlets alike for allowing the game…

We Made 400 Episodes Of Highlight Reel!?

Today on (the 400th episode of) Highlight Reel we have Dark Souls Remastered glitches, State of Decay 2 deadheads, and much more. Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube…

Track: Buddy Holly | Artist: Weezer | Album: Weezer Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

And Now For Some Excellent Solo Cosplay

Here’s Sunjiwith one heck of a Han Solo/Alden Ehrenreich smirk. Photos by kmitenkova

The Good Sir Boye

Rudy Siswanto is a concept artist and illustrator based in Indonesia. You can see more of Rudy’s work at his ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of…

Track: I’ve All I Need | Artist: Liam Gallagher | Album: As You Were Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.