2000’s JRPG ‘Summer Of Adventure’ Saw Square At The Height Of Its Powers

Twenty years ago this month Square released Chrono Cross, a big, beautiful mess of a game bursting at the seams with style, atmosphere, and Japanese RPG minutia. But it wasn’t the only major game Square released that summer. The publisher also delivered Threads of Fate and Legend of Mana, two other games that riffed on…

Confessions Of A Fall Guys Grabber

If you’ve played Fall Guys, this has happened to you: You’re about to cross the finish line. Everything’s looking great. Then, out of nowhere, some jerk grabs you. A bunch of other pastel-colored beans sprint by. Just like that, you’re disqualified. The person who disqualified you was me—and I’m not sorry. Fall Guys is a…

Batman Arkham Developer Rocksteady Responds To Harassment Claims

Rocksteady Studios released a statement on Twitter today addressing recent claims that it failed to respond to concerns about sexual harassment at the studio, saying it “dealt with issues raised” in the past, and is committing to work with an independent third-party to address any new complaints that might come up in the future. On…

With FreeFortnite Cup, Epic Continues Dragging Players Into Its Anti-Apple Crusade

While Epic and Apple wage their corporate war over the App Store, there’s not a lot Fortnite players can do but wait and see. This weekend, Epic is bringing its fight into the game once more with the #FreeFortnite Cup, a tournament in which players can win a nefarious-looking apple skin and even other consoles…

Hey, Spiritfarer’s Couch Co-Op Is Pretty Good

This week introduced a fine entry into the couch co-op compendium in Spiritfarer, the watercolor management sim about the afterlife.

I’m Sorry To Say Laurence Fishburne Died In The 2005 Matrix MMORPG

One of the MMO's biggest plot points was the assassination of Morpheus

Finally, A Video Game Worthy Of Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky’s excellent animated martial arts drama, debuted on Cartoon Network in December of 2001. It ran until 2004, returning for a fifth and final season on Adult Swim in 2017. In all that time only two games were made based on the series, and they weren’t great. Now, three years after the…

Raji: An Ancient Epic Is A Beautiful Exploration Of Love And Gods

Raji: An Ancient Epic plays like an epic poem. Shadow puppet cutscenes help tell the story of main character Raji and there are murals all over the world displaying stories from Hindu mythology. The music aids the grandness of the storytelling, with a sitar frantically strumming in time with Raji’s spear swipes or the wail…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for doing things in video games you would never do in real life. Like shooting people, crashing cars, or playing golf. I am a video game golfer. I like the idea of using a stick to hit a ball into a hole very far away. It’s all the other stuff involved in…

Crysis Remastered Comes Out In September, For Real This Time, Probably

After lots of leaks, confusion, and backtracking, Crysis Remastered finally has a new release date and it’s coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 18. The remaster, which is only of the first game in the series and doesn’t include any multiplayer, will have a number of graphical updates like ray-traced reflections and…

Here’s Everything Destiny 2 Is Losing Later This Year

Bungie went into more detail about what precisely will be disappearing from Destiny 2 later this year, when the studio begins vaulting content for the the first time in game’s history and…it’s a lot. The base game’s main campaign will all but disappear and most of its existing free-to-play content along with it. The Destiny…

Strider’s Most Disappointing Console Port Had The Best Soundtrack

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today I’ll disparage Capcom’s arcade classic Strider and then try to win back your trust by praising its music. A bold strategy! Let’s see if it pays off. Sega’s 1990 Genesis conversion of Capcom’s 1989…

Japan’s First Officially Licensed Video Game Bar Opens In Tokyo

While video game bars are popular in Japan, they do operate in somewhat of a gray area. In 2018, for example, there were instances in which video game bars were shut down over copyright claims. People were even arrested. Video game bars typically let customers play games for free while charging them for drinks. The…

Ramen Waiter Robots Coming To Japan

Later this month, ramen chain Kourakuen in Fukushima will begin trialing robot waiters to bring patrons hot, steaming bowls of ramen. Called K-1, the robot is supposed to help with social distancing in the age of covid-19, offering contactless service and reducing the burden on restaurant staff. K-1 is outfitted with voice guidance as well…

There Are Now 100 Pokémon Manholes In Japan

Last year, the first Pokémon manholes were installed in Japan. A year later, there are now one hundred of them in the country. Pokémon manholes, dubbed Poké Futa (ポケふた) or Poké Lid, have been installed in a variety of prefectures, including Hokkaido, Iwate, Fukushima, Kagawa and more. The latest six are in Tokyo’s Machida, making…

Track: Prism | Artist: Bully | Album: SUGAREGG

Fall Guys Was Almost Called Stumble Chums

Game development, like any creative endeavor, is an iterative exercise in brainstorming and fine-tuning. A recent Twitter thread by Mediatonic creative director Jeff Tanton gave everyone a brief glimpse into that process as it pertained to Fall Guys, which apparently had several possible titles before the studio settled on its final name. Fall Guys got…