Culture

Dishonored, A Stealth Game For People Who Hate Stealth

I’m terrible at stealth games. I lack the patience, the focus, and the discipline to unravel the knot at the center of each level. Don’t get me wrong, I love sneaking around in the shadows. I just don’t like getting caught. And I always get caught. But while some games punish this sort of behavior,…

The Week In Games: Dishonorable Mention 

It’s time to return this week to Bethesda’s macabre steampunk heaven where the sun is only ever rising or setting and probably no one ever takes a shower. I can’t wait to embark on yet another stealth adventure with all of the best intentions in mind only to abandon my “perfect” play-through the minute something…

Diablo III’s Witch Doctor Will See You Now

Methyl Ethyl Cosplay isn’t just doing Diablo III cosplay here, she’s paying direct tribute to some of the game’s early concept art by Blizzard’s Glenn Rane All photos by Michael Mac. You can see more of Methyl Ethyy’s cosplay at her Facebook page

Manga Horror Still Makes For Excellent Cosplay

Mamakiteru, master of Japanese horror cosplay, is still at it this Halloween season, turning creepy manga stills into a tableau of blood and crazy eyes. I know the black & white images are more “authentic”, but there’s something about the colour of her blood make-up that’s just fantastic.

Sunday Comics: Make The Frontier Great Again

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published November 5. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published October 31. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s Friday and we finally got to see Sombra? What a day, readers! I’m going to playing a ton of Hitman this weekend. Now that the first season’s done, I’m excited to dig into some of the escalations and other content I’ve missed. Also Overwatch. It goes without saying at this point (he, er, said).…

The Internet Reacts To Overwatch’s Sombra

Sombra hacked her way into our hearts today, now that Blizzard decided to stop messing around and just announce her. All of the agony and frustration is gone. The internet lost its collective shit after the Sombra reveal, with many Overwatch fans unable to say anything else than “boop” now. Those who aren’t completely incapacitated…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: Is Being A Virgin Hurting My Dating Chances?

Hello, all you petrochemical sex cobras of the Internet. Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the column that puts the “Hell yes” in FPS. This week, we’re talking about experience. How much does being a virgin actually affect your dating success and how much of it is about expectations? And speaking of expectations: how do you…

The 1920s Needed More Giant, Smoking Mechs

Artist Jakub Rozalski, whose 1920+ series of illustrations inspired the excellent board game Scythe, is about to see his art grace not one, but two video games. Which means we get to see more of those fantastically surreal images of 20th century peasants being towered over by giant mechs. One of those games is the…

They Should Really Have More Conventions On The Beach

Oni-Con was held last week in Texas, a smaller convention that’s notable for one very cool thing: the con is held right opposite a beach, so cosplayers can cross the street and get some shots on the sand. Mineralblu headed down there for some shoots, and was cool enough to share some of those images…

Tracer cosplay by Rose. Photo by Martin Wong

C’mere Roach

Anna Podedworna is a concept artist at CD Projekt Red, where she’s worked on projects like the new spin-off release of Gwent, the card game from The Witcher 3 Below are some of the cards Anna illustrated for the game. You can see more of Anna’s work at her DAand ArtStation pages To see the…

Titanfall 2’s Gauntlet Demolished In Record Time

Today on Highlight Reel we have blistering Titanfall 2 gauntlet runs, self-nukes, Battlefield 1 moments, Dark Souls 3 meta, 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…

Podcast: Skyrim Is Still Great

This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, we’ve got more games than we can even handle. Titanfall 2! Skyrim Special Edition! Final Fantasy XV! House of the Dying Sun! Mafia 3! And on, and on. Jason and I cover all those games and also answer some reader mail about Final Fantasy XIV and Destiny You can listen to…

After Nine Years In Development, Owlboy Is Worth The Wait

When Owlboy first started making waves nine years ago, indie games were barely A Thing. Minecraft and League of Legends hadn’t even begun to take over the world. Netflix was still a DVD-by-mail service. There were, like, two memes, both spread via telegraph and the US postal service. Now, finally, Owlboy is here. I find…

World Record For Beating Ocarina of Time Keeps Getting Broken Thanks To One Glitch

A while back, speedrunners believed that they had achieved a near-perfect completion time for Ocarina of Time, that nobody could beat the game much faster than 18 minutes and 10 seconds. Two years later, the time has been shaved down to an incredible 17 minutes and 24 seconds, and it’s all because of a trick…

Skeleton Armies, Still Metal

Alexandr Malex is a concept artist and illustrator from Belarus. You can see more of Malex’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 both…

Bleach Creator Is Good At Bleach Cosplay 

Now that the Bleach manga is finished, creator Tite Kubo has more time to focus on things besides drawing and writing. Things like Bleach cosplay, for example. Kubo recently began uploading sketches to his Twitter account, as well as a series of photos. First this. Then this. The text reads, “Long time, no see.” He…

What It’s Like To Live With Two Cosplayers

In episode two of our new webseries all about cosplay and cosplayers, housemates Ashley and Alex share their experiences about living together and making outfits together. Or…trying to. You can catch the first episode, about a couple who cosplay so much they’re too busy to get married, here Behind The Mask is presented by Bandai…

Some Very Good Dragon Ball Cosplay

On the left, cosplayer and make-up artist Sosenka. On the right, cosplayer and make-up artist Sosenka. Her Majin Buu cosplay looks good in stills, almost photoshopped in parts (like around the nose and mouth), so it pays to see the whole thing in motion so we can get an appreciation for how legit the whole…