We’re finishing Nier: Automata right now on Twitch. That’s routes B, C, D, and E all for the price of one stream. Come join the chat and enjoy one of 2017’s best games.

This Week In The Business: Moving At The Speed Of Sony

QUOTE | “We’re hearing it. We’re looking at a lot of the possibilities. You can imagine that the circumstances around that affect a lot more than just one game. I’m confident we’ll get to a solution which will be understood and accepted by our gaming community, while at the same time supporting our business.” –…

Overwatch Is Getting Wackier, And That’s Great

Yesterday, Overwatch added a hamster. The hamster’s name is Hammond, or Hammy for short. In a game about cyborg ninjas, strained mother-daughter relationships, and terrorist groups with edgy-ass names like Talon, here’s Hammy the Hamster. It’s just one more example of how Overwatch is embracing its wacky side. I’m not sure if Overwatch ever fell…

Warring EVE Factions Take A Break To Remember A Fallen Friend

EVE Online factions have been at each others’ throats for ages, but they do occasionally do nice things for each other. Recently, one of these rare awwwww moments happened: the donation of a memorial to player Sean “Vile Rat” Smith, who lost his life in the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. The player-controlled…

Fan Calculations About Fortnite‘s Big Missile Event Were Off By A Day

Fortnite is no stranger to countdowns and theatrics, but this weekend’s mysterious (though probably missile-related) event is a little different. It’s happening just once. Fans thought they’d pinned down exactly when, but today Epic announced the actual date: one day before fans had calculated. This much is certain: Something is about to happen. In-game TVs…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for it being too hot to avoid turning the air conditioner on but feeling a little guilty about it. Also, video games. It hasn’t been an easy week for a whole host of reasons, which means I’m really looking forward to kicking back with my old stand-by, The Witcher 3. Other than…

Ultimate Custom Night Will Keep Five Nights At Freddy’s Fans On Their Toes

After an hour of playing Ultimate Custom Night, I was nursing a throbbing headache. I had spent that time clicking through rooms, winding up music boxes, and taking on and off a Freddy Fazbear head, all while I braced myself for the imminent jump scares. Even after the ordeal I put myself through, I wanted…

I Hated Until Dawn‘s Emily, Until We Were Fighting For Our Lives

Until Dawn is one of gaming’s greatest love letters to horror movies. It conforms to and subverts the slasher paradigm so well that it often feels like playing through a long-lost classic film from the sub-genre’s early-80s heyday. It’s creepy, atmospheric, gory, and occasionally goofy. The game is at its most shocking, however, when it…

Tim Rogers and Bennett Foddy are playing Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom over at our YouTube channel. Check it out!

Amazing Mario 3 Speedrun Is Full Of Setbacks And Sportsmanship

Last night, the top two Super Mario Bros 3 speedrunners faced off for a race that ran into problems—including game crashes. Despite the hurdles, speedrunners Mitchflowerpower and GrandPOObear bounced back and showed sportsmanship and skill under stress. In their “All Forts” run at Summer Games Done Quick 2018, the pair sped through the game and…

We Talk About Queerness In Games, From Overwatch Ships To E3 Smooches

We celebrated Pride this week at Kotaku with stories from queer staffers about Street Fighter ships, queer fandoms in Overwatch and in K-Pop, and our desire to see queer characters survive and thrive in the games we play. Before we take down the beautiful rainbow logos that festooned the site this week in celebration, we…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: How Can I Trust The Men I Work With?

Hello all you death monkies of the noosphere, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column with a battle royale mode. This week, we’re talking about trust and judgement. How can you trust that someone actually likes and respects you instead of just trying to get into your pants? And for that…

Custom D&D Character Sheets Are A Critical Hit

Cartoonist and self-described Dungeons & Dragons nerd Luke Howard hand-crafted a convincing argument in favor of pen-and-paper role-playing: custom character sheets for D&D It’s not unusual for players to print their character sheets off D&D’s website or type their stats into a digital document. But that can feel a little impersonal. Howard’s character books are…

Tips For Playing Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is finally out for Nintendo Switch, which means a lot more people are playing it than when it hit PC last year. People like me! I’ve put almost 40 hours into the game, and I have some tips for anyone starting out. For the most part, Hollow Knight is straightforward. Explore the buried…

What’s So Great About Banjo-Kazooie

People poured money into a Kickstarter for a spiritual successor to the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie. Why? Because Banjo-Kazooie was a wonderful game and no mere Mario 64 me-too, as some detractors claim. This post originally appeared 5/11/15. We’ve bumped it up for the 20th anniversary of Banjo-Kazooie. To properly appreciate the greatness of…

Riot Accidentally Sends A ‘Few’ League of Legends Players Other People’s Personal Info

Some League of Legends players received sensitive private information that belonged to other people earlier this week due to errors by Riot, makers of the internationally acclaimed multiplayer game. Instead of getting access to their own requested account info, several received phone numbers, email addresses, and detailed player histories of other people. A Riot representative…

Shape Of The World Is A Gorgeous Exploration Game

Shape of the World is an exploration game that weaves colors into breathtaking landscapes. The shifting pastel horizons create one of the best game worlds I’ve ever explored, capturing both the thrill of hiking and the colors of a solid psilocybin trip Shape of the World invites comparison to 2013’s exploration game Proteus, but while…

Here Is Pixar’s Dory Fighting Crime

I had many possible topics in mind for today’s Kotaku Game Diary: The slew of wonderful Metroid-like games I’ve been playing on the Switch. An analysis of a vexing Nioh boss. A meditation on the lack of playable denouements in video games. All will be covered in due time. Today? I am too short on…