Nintendo Allows Cancelations For Digital Game Pre-Orders (In Japan, For Now)

Previously, if you pre-ordered a digital Nintendo game and then changed your mind, tough! As soon as the order was placed, your credit card was charged. That’s now changed—in the Japanese eShop, at least. Starting today, customers can cancel their pre-order games up to seven days before release, free of charge. After that window has…

Moon Taught Me To Appreciate Its Weird World The Hard Way

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is a niche “anti-RPG” from 1997 that last week made its way westward, for the first time ever, via Switch. While the digital manual provides some much-appreciated assistance, I recently found myself stuck in a game-ending situation that would have been entirely avoidable had I respected the game’s world. The main…

Wasteland 3, From The Perspective Of A Wasteland Newcomer

Early on in Wasteland 3, you’re forced to make a choice. The family of one of your party members, a young woman named Lucia Wesson, was recently killed. An early quest has you stumble upon a camp of downtrodden apocalypse survivors, where you meet Lucia’s ex-boyfriend. Even if he didn’t technically pull the trigger, he’s…

Horizon Zero Dawn PC Patch Fixes Bug That Kept Aloy Stuck As A Child

Growing up is a normal part of life. Except for certain Horizon Zero Dawn players on PC who remained stuck as young Aloy after their games crashed in the middle of a cutscene. Out today, the game’s 1.03 patch on PC fixes a number of bugs, of which the PC version has had many, including…

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Returning To Dragon Age: Origins

I knew this would happen. The second I saw that Dragon Age 4 video at Gamescom, I knew I’d be back on my particular brand of Dragon Age bullshit. I want you to know I tried. I fought against the siren’s call as best as I could. But like many an ancient sailor, I too…

Do You Typically Play As ‘Good’ Or ‘Evil’ Characters?

It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites assemble to deliberate on a single burning question. Sometimes a serious one, other times less so; mostly it’s just a nice opportunity to talk more about video games. You down? This week we Ask Kotaku: Do you typically play as “good” or…

Windbound Nails The Terrifying, Calming Peace Of Being In Open Waters

Six minutes into Windbound, I died. Shortly after the game started, I found myself stranded on an island with nothing but my wits and a knife. I saw a boar-like creature. It wasn’t bothering me, but it had something I needed. So I did what video games have taught me to do and struck it…

Yes, I Have Bagged Red Dead Online’s Most Elusive Bovine

Gather round folks, and let me share with you the absurd tale of my week-long hunt to find a stupid bull in Red Dead Online.  A few weeks ago a new role involving animals, the naturalist, was added to Red Dead Online. The role’s main focus is collecting samples from most of the game’s animals,…

Dragon Ball FighterZ Gets Harsher Penalties For Rage Quitters

The latest Dragon Ball FighterZ update includes a new system that will impose harsh penalties on those who rage quit, in an effort to stem the tide of players disconnecting from online matches. According to an in-game news bulletin, players who “deliberately disconnect” from an online match will be restricted from entering online lobbies for…

PS5 Will Only Be Backward Compatible With PS4 Games, According To Ubisoft [Update]

A new support page about the transition to next-gen consoles over on Ubisoft’s website appears to confirm that PS3, PS2, and PS1 games will not be backward compatible on PS5. “Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games,” the support…

Platforming roguelite Scourgebringer is leaving Early Access on Steam and coming to Xbox One and Switch on October 21. It’s a bit like Celeste with twitch hack’n slash combat. You can read our impressions here.

How’s It Going? Bill And Ted Edition

Be excellent to each other and welcome back to our daily open thread, dudes. Two movies came out this past weekend. One, New Mutants, only came out in theaters, forcing folks to brave movie theater crowds during a global pandemic in order to be horribly disappointed. The other, Bill and Ted Face the Music, launched…

Crusader Kings III: The Kotaku Review

Crusader Kings III is a game that takes in 600 years of human history, from the 9th century through to the 15th, with all the geopolitical conflict, religious turmoil and interpersonal struggles that went along with it. So…where do we even begin with this game, let along this review? How about with a quick history…

Here’s The Prettiest Purple Gaming Headset I Ever Did See

Normally I turn to pink hues when I am looking for new gaming accessories, but the lilac Logitech G’s G733 Lightspeed wireless gaming headset, part of the company’s new Color Collection, is pushing me in a purple direction. Logitech G makes good gaming gear. Now it makes good gear in fancy colors. The new $130…