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CultureLast Stop‘s Meant To Feel Like A Playable TV Show
You’d think a game featuring mysterious green magic swirling in the London underground would be all about weird stuff. But Last Stop—at least from what I’ve seen of it so far—is first and foremost a game about people. Last Stop is the latest from Variable State, the U.K. indie studio behind 2016’s oddball mystery Virginia,…
By Ari Notis Published April 22, 2021 -
ReviewsETCMortal Kombat 2021: The Kotaku Movie Review
As I said last month following a preview of the film’s first 12 minutes, the new Mortal Kombat movie starts off strong. The opening battle between the men who would become Sub-Zero and Scorpion is one of my favorite cinema moments of the year. The remaining 98 minutes? Not so much. The fights are outstanding,…
By Mike Fahey Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryClone Hero Is So Much Fun I Don’t Mind The Carpal Tunnel
As the last of the notes disappeared from the screen, I put my fake, plastic guitar down to look at my hands. They were shaking, and my fingers were curled as if they were still wrapped around the fretboard. I felt pain twisting around my wrist and creeping into my finger joints. Still, I wore…
By Ash Parrish Published April 22, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Nier Replicant Remaster Does Many Good Things And One Awful Thing
I played the original Nier back in 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the main character being a hideous troll of an old man. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, with the handsome younger hero originally exclusive to Japan, looks, plays, and feels better overall, save the unfortunate inclusion of an achievement for players who peek at the…
By Mike Fahey Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureCall of Duty Gets ’80s Map For Season Three
Following yesterday’s Warzone nuke events, Call of Duty’s Season Three has officially begun for both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. Season Three introduces a “new” Warzone map, while Cold War gets new multiplayer maps, weapons, operators, Zombies updates, and more. There’s also a new 100-tier Battle Pass to grind. It’s a lot of what…
By S.E. Doster Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureCD Projekt Refunded Only 30,000 Copies Of Cyberpunk 2077
Only a tiny fraction of the overall Cyberpunk 2077 sales resulted in refunds, CFO Piotr Nielubowicz told investors during an earnings call earlier today. Out of the 13.7 million copies sold, the Polish developer apparently issued just 30,000 refunds. As for the monetary impact, the “Help Me Refund” program CD Projekt set up to handle…
By Ian Walker Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureDestiny 2‘s New Transmog System Sounds Like A Grind-In-The-Ass
Bungie finally shed some light on Destiny 2’s upcoming transmog options in a blog post today. The new system, called Armor Synthesis, will be added to the loot-shooter service game within a few weeks, fulfilling a long-standing request of the Destiny community. Unfortunately, its implementation sounds like more of a grind than anything you’d find…
By Ari Notis Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureHades Wins Game Of The Year At The 2021 DICE Awards
Beloved indie game Hades scored the most wins at this year’s DICE Awards. Supergiant’s excellent roguelike action game ultimately won five awards, including “Game of the Year.” While Hades had a great showing, it was Sony’s stable of PlayStation exclusives that swept the awards, winning nine awards across five games. Ghost of Tsushima grabbed four…
By Zack Zwiezen Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureGearbox Threatens To ‘Expand Outside’ Texas Over Anti-Trans Bill
During a committee hearing held yesterday in the Texas House of Representatives, Gearbox exec David Najjab testified against Texas House Bill 4042, which would force transgender athletes in public schools to compete in sports according to the gender they were assigned at birth. “I’m a Texan,” said Najjab, who has worked as Borderlands developer Gearbox’s…
By Ian Walker Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Adds FPS Boost To 13 More Xbox Games
Microsoft announced today that 13 EA Play games now support FPS Boost on Xbox Series X/S consoles. A bunch of these FPS-boosted titles support 120Hz including Star Wars: Battlefront, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, Titanfall 2, Battlefield V, and more. The vast majority of these newly boosted games originally ran at 60fps on Xbox One…
By Zack Zwiezen Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsNew Fortnite Skin Is Full Of References To Game’s Past Maps
Eco is a new Fortnite skin in the item shop today. It looks like the Earth, maybe for Earth Day. But it’s also full of easter eggs to the old battle royale island. Epic tweeted that the skin was inspired by Fortnite creator NolloBandz. It sells for 1500 Vbucks, and the set also contains a…
By Riley MacLeod Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureEpic Games Store Adds New Apps Including, Um, Another Game Store
Epic announced today that a slate of new non-gaming apps are now available on the Epic Games Store. The most interesting new app added is the indie games storefront Itch.io, potentially giving the thousands of smaller games on their store a huge new audience of EGS users. The Itch.io store being added to EGS is…
By Zack Zwiezen Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureThe Nintendo Download: It’s Picross Day, Motherpuzzlers
Another Thursday, another 35+ new games for the Nintendo Switch. This week one of those games is Picross S6. The rest of them? Shantae? MotoGP 21? Dungholes? Not nearly as important. It must be hard being a Nintendo Switch game released the same day as a new installment of math deduction puzzler Picross. It doesn’t…
By Mike Fahey Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureThe Olympics Gets A Virtual Sports Tie-In Event
It’s not quite esports in the Olympics, but the International Olympics Committee (IOC) will host a virtual sports event May 13 to June 23, tied to the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Produced by DreamHack Sports Games, the Olympic Virtual Series will be “the first-ever, Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports,” according to…
By Riley MacLeod Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureNew Battlefield Game Promised For Later This Year
Today, EA announced it’s working on two new Battlefield games and promised a console/PC release for later this year. “We have our biggest team ever on a Battlefield game for console and PC,” wrote DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson. “Together, we are creating a jaw-dropping experience for you to enjoy later in 2021.” Gabrielson said…
By Ash Parrish Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureBehold, A Little Pikachu Photo Printer From Nintendo And Fujifilm
Nintendo and Fujifilm have joined forces for a small printer called Instax Mini Link for Nintendo Switch Smartphone Printer. As PetaPixel and the official release explains, the printer makes it possible to print out in-game images, and is based on Fujifilm’s Instax Mini Link smartphone printer, but with added Switch-themed red-and-blue accents. There’s also a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 22, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanManga Artist Hiro Mashima Is Teaming Up With Square Enix For A Totally New RPG
Award-winning manga artist Hiro Mashima, best known for the smash hit Fairy Tail, is joining forces with Square Enix for an entirely new fantasy role-playing game called Gate of Nightmares for iOS and Android. Check out the debut trailer below: Mashima designed the characters and the game’s overall look, while Jin Fujisawa, a Dragon Quest…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 22, 2021 -
CultureThere’s A Full Console Port Of Virtua Fighter 5 Inside Yakuza
The Yakuza series has contained playable Sega minigames for a while now, from Outrun to Virtua On, but folks digging around in the code for Yakuza: Like A Dragon and Yakuza 6’s new PC release have found something a bit more substantial: basically the entire Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, which…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2021 -
ReviewsBoard GamesPlaying Pandemic Legacy In 2021 Was Not The Best Time
As life in Australia slowly settles back into something resembling normality—at least for now—after everything that happened in 2020, my board game crew have been finding our feet again and getting back into regular sessions. First up for 2021 was a long-overdue run through Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, which…may not have been the best idea.…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 21, 2021 -
CultureResident Evil 4 Now Has Dual-Wielding In VR
During today’s Oculus Gaming Showcase, executive producer Ruth Bram shared more information on the upcoming virtual reality port of Resident Evil 4 Resident Evil 4 on Oculus Quest 2, which is being developed by Armature Studio, shifts the classic survival horror game from the often-imitated, over-the-shoulder viewpoint of the original to a first-person perspective with…
By Ian Walker Published April 21, 2021