Culture

Solarix Wants To Be A Scary Deus Ex, But Something’s Missing

Should I care about Solarix? Yes and no. I really love what Solarix tries to achieve—a new game in the mold of the original Deus Ex or System Shock 2—but it lacks their spirit, their soul. What’s it about? Here’s a general overview of the game, via its Steam page: “Solarix is a science-fiction stealth-horror…

Half-Life 3: Fake Concept Art For A Game That Will Never Exist

Concept artist Shane Baxley knows. He knows deep down, like your or I do, that Half-Life 3 is never coming. Only instead of letting it hurt him, he got to work drawing. Dreaming. Baxley—who just finished work on Black Ops III, and has also done stuff for Subaru, Disney and MLB—figured Dog was in need…

Witcher Cosplay Bends Genders

What is it with these Witcher cosplayers, being so relentlessly professional and amazing and stuff? This gender-bent Geralt (with some bonus shots as Ciri), by Aelirenn, is just incredible. That’s real chainmail, pieced together by a blacksmith, and as you’ll see in other pics below, the make-up work on the scars is also super impressive.

Track: Neon Beams | Artist: Take | Album: Only Mountains Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment

Valve Finally Fixes Years-Old Steam Bug

Oh thank goodness. The latest Steam beta update includes the following note: “Fixed bug where in-game overlay could take two screenshots for a single hotkey press in some games that process input via DirectInput and Win32 input messages.” This is a bigger deal than it sounds like. Some bugs get squashed, others don’t. And sometimes,…

What Are You Playing On Steam This Week?

Steam releases approximately one hundred million billion (give or take a zillion) games every week. So let’s help each other out: tell me what you’re playing on Steam this week and whether or not it’s any good. Let’s recommend games to each other. Me, I’ve been splitting my time between Power Ranger strategy goof-’em-up Chroma…

Grand Theft Auto V Mod Makes Guns Fire Cars Instead Of Bullets

There have been many games with guns. There have been many games with cars. But guns that fire cars? Welcome to a new era. Remember when we thought things couldn’t get any crazier than the chainsaw gun? Or the guns in Ratchet and Clank? Or Duke Nukem? Oh how naive we were. Here, today, we…

Half-Life 2 World Record Speedrun Will Make Your Head Spin

It’d be easy to assume the GIF above is the most impressive part of this run, but it’s not. This incredibly fast speedrun of Half-Life 2: Episode Two was pulled off by SourceRuns Team, and they managed make it through Valve’s shooter in record time: 30 minutes and 36 seconds. In order to make this…

Track: There Are Too Many of Us | Artist: Blur | Album: The Magic Whip Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment

All Hail Hypnoskull

Weston Reid is a concept artist who has worked for companies like CCP and Tripwire. He’s currently helping out at Hi-Rez Studios on Smite. You can see more of Weston’s work at his ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as…

Many A True Nerd is back—this time he speedruns through Fallout New Vegas on hardcore mode without eating, drinking, or sleeping. Somehow, he pulls it off. Of course he does.

Wrecked GTA Cab Turns Into Clown Car Of Infinite Drivers

On today’s Highlight Reel we have Battlefield head shots, Rocket League goals, dudes named Steve, clown cars, demonic dentistry and much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. Destiny – Destiny…

A Strategy Game Where You’re Basically The Power Rangers

Should I care about Chroma Squad? If you’re struck by devastating waves of nostalgia every time you think about Power Rangers, Japanese super sentai series, or, er, Backstreet Boys lyrics, then yes. Definitely yes. What’s it about? It’s a Power Rangers (sans the license) strategy game, but that’s not all it is. See, there’s this…

Remember, Stick ‘Em With The Pointy End

Based in San Francisco, KJ Yu is Studio Art Director at Concept Art House, a team that specialises in all kinds of art for the video game business. CAH has worked on games for companies like Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic, Riot and Wizards of the Coast. You can see more of Yu’s work at his…

The Week In Games: More Wolfenstein And Gravy

Beloved by several prominent and sexy Kotaku editors, Wolfenstein: The New Order gets a standalone prequel this week. Everything else is just gravy. Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker? Gravy. Syberia II for PS3? Gravy. Cosmophony? Gravy. You know what I love almost as much as more Wolfenstein? Gravy. Tuesday, May 5 Shin…

Sunday Comics: Dark Spirit Has Invaded

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 May 2. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published April 27. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

Is Taco Bell’s Steak Doubledilla more exciting than an N64 at Christmas? Or how to turn a cherished childhood memory into cold hard cash, via Mr. Raccoon.

This Week In The Business: Disappearing Developers

QUOTE | “I suspect that Apple would be ecstatic if 90 percent of game developers disappeared overnight. See also: Steam.” – Indie developer Jeff Vogel, explaining why he walked away from iOS development after his game Avernum 2 was pulled from the App Store Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “Companies…

If Deus Ex Were A Horror Game: The Steam Stream Plays Solarix

On a very special Friday installment of The Steam Stream, I’m playing Solarix, a new sci-fi horror game with open-ended Deus-Ex-style gameplay. Watch me get embarrassingly frightened below. This week’s stream will probably be a little short, but if I get around to it I’m hoping to also stream a little of Chroma Squad, a…

What Are You Playing This May?

Holy hell, it’s already May. How did that happen? We may be nearing the halfway mark on 2015. It may be spring already, the days may be longer than ever, and there may be a ton of interesting games to play and replay. All of that may be the case. May we take a moment…