Culture

My Friend Pedro Is Like A More Violent, 2D Max Payne

Before I knew anything else about it, I knew My Friend Pedro looked cool. I first came across the solo-developed indie game while going through the Screenshot Saturday hashtag on Twitter several years ago. Among all of the images of games in development shared by their makers was a masked man pirouetting through the air…

Two Long-Lost Nintendo Arcade Games Are Heading To Switch

Nintendo kicked off the final day of Treehouse Live with a huge announcement for fans of its classic games: Two arcade games that have never been officially released on home consoles are coming to Switch’s Arcade Archives: the original Donkey Kong, which is available now, and Sky Skipper, coming in July. Donkey Kong is a…

Track: Lippy Kids (Live at Blueprint Studios) | Artist: Elbow | Album: Build a Rocket Boys! Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Taste Test For Coca-Cola Clear And More

Recently, Coca-Cola Japan released a clear Coke. But it’s not the only drink maker in the country that is going see-through. Anyone who remembers the 1980s and 90s can recall how clear—and white—drinks became en vogue. In Japan that meant, vodka, shochu and white wine. In America, clear liquor was popular, but we also got…

It Is Bayek, Of Siwa

This is Aussie cosplayer Yeliztaking on the star of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Bayek. If you’re wondering why the photos make it look like she’s in the desert, that’s because she was; they were taken in Kuwait by local photographer dawoodblog You can see more Yeliz’s cosplay at her Facebook page

A Plague Tale Is A Gross Game About Billions Of Rats

First announced at last year’s E3, A Plague Tale: Innocence is back this year to remind us all that rat fiction is super disgusting. Like, of all the terrible things that happen in The Witcher 3, the tale of a woman who can’t scream because rats have crawled down her throat was easily the most…

Ooblets Is Here For The Cute Animal Business

E3’s guns and action and death got you down? Here’s some Ooblets, jacking into your eyeballs with bright colours and cute lil’ animals. I like Pokemon and Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon and so I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time. I am still looking forward to it. Ooblets is out…

Please, More Games Where We Eat Humans Like Snacks

I am absolutely terrified of sharks, among many other things, and that’s always been a hassle when trying to play games with underwater sections. I’m down for Maneater, though, because in this game I am the shark. I know that there have been other games where you can be a shark, but they haven’t looked…

We’ve seen plenty of Horizon Zero Dawn cosplay, but never a full-blown music video where the cosplayer—in this case Fenix Fatalist—is singing her own song she wrote about the game.

Greedfall, A New RPG Where The 17th Century White Man Runs Into Some Problems

French studio Spiders, creators of bad-but-also-good RPGs like The Technomancer, have a new game coming called Greedfall. It’s an alternate universe take on what a 17th century European invasion of the New World would look like if the colonizers ran into magic and giant monsters. It’s aiming for a release on PC, Xbox One and…

Ninja Takes Two-Day Break, Loses 40,000 Subscribers

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins might be on top of the streaming world right now, but even he’s not immune to being yanked back down to earth by the sometimes absurdly demanding realities of the job. For the past couple days, Ninja’s been living it up at E3, retweeting several thousand pictures people have taken with him…

Grim Fandango Was Performed Live On Stage, With Jack Black, And It Was Magical

One of the absolute highlights of this year’s E3 has been the idea Double Fine had to perform classic adventure game Grim Fandango live on stage, complete with original voice actors and band. While of course they weren’t acting it out—this is E3, not Broadway—it’s still a beautiful thing to watch, with art shown behind…

Beyond Good And Evil 2‘s Plan To Crowdsource Art From Fans Prompts Backlash

Ubisoft is asking fans to contribute art and music to its upcoming game Beyond Good and Evil 2, with the promise of monetary compensation if their work is chosen. Fans are already diving in with gusto, but critics quickly pointed out the issues with asking people to do work for only the possibility of payment.…

Cyberpunk 2077 Is A Violent, Impressive Blend Of Deus Ex And The Witcher 3

The next game from the makers of The Witcher 3 is looking impressive, and perhaps most importantly, it looks like a real video game. A 50-minute behind-closed-doors E3 demo of Cyberpunk 2077 showed attendees proper gameplay, played live, that appeared like something we might actually see in the next year or two. Here’s the short…

E3 Presenters Faced A Well Known Challenge: Their Hands

Phil Spencer clearly does not know where his hands are supposed to go when he’s talking

Rage 2 Plays A Lot Like Doom, And That’s Awesome

Playing Rage 2 gave me flashbacks to playing Doom (2016). And that’s a very good thing. Remember when we were lukewarm about Doom? Remember when that project was stuck in endless development hell, and the franchise’s unimpeachable heritage was left to ride on the increasingly sour taste that Doom 3 had left in our mouths?…

Elder Scrolls: Blades Is Impressive, But Don’t Expect Skyrim

I have a feeling that the Elder Scrolls name is going to be a bit of an albatross for The Elder Scrolls: Blades, a free-to-play RPG for mobile that Bethesda announced at E3 From the demo at the show, it’s clear that the fundamentals of the series are there: You trudge through abandoned Elven hallways…

Ubisoft’s Starlink Is Surprisingly Cool, With Or Without Star Fox

Starlink: Battle For Atlas isn’t a Star Fox game. Nintendo’s furry pilot and his famous Arwing fighter are in the Switch version and—I hope you’re sitting down—not in the Xbox One and PS4 versions. It’s not even fully a toys game, a la Skylanders or Disney Infinity, because it turns out you don’t even need…

Overcooked 2 Lets You Crash A Restaurant Into Another Restaurant

The co-op cooking game Overcooked 2 was one of the featured third-party announcements during Nintendo’s E3 presentation this year. After playing it, I understand why. While others on the Kotaku team have been praising the first Overcooked for a while, I hadn’t had the time (or, sniff, the friends) to play it. At E3, after…

Mega Man 11 Is Exactly What I Hoped It Would Be

It’s been eight years since the last Mega Man game, and after the disappointing spiritual successor Mighty No. 9, it’s fair for us all to wonder: Is Mega Man 11 actually going to be any good? The answer, from what I’ve played so far, is yes. I played two full stages of Mega Man 11…