I Completely Missed The Best Part Of Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 is one of 2017’s sleeper hits, a prequel to the popular crime drama that brought it to a wider audience. While most of the game is about criminal intrigue and martial arts brawls, a surprisingly robust club management mini-game is one of its most entertaining activities. Yakuza 0 follows two protagonists as they…

Final Fantasy Is 30 Years Old

Final Fantasy and I have a lot in common. We’re both charming, aging rapidly, and occasionally haunted by anime ladies. Also, we both turned 30 this year. On December 18, 1987, the company formerly known as Square released Final Fantasy, a desperate game that mixed Dragon Quest with Lord of the Rings and added a…

The Weirdest Patch Notes Of 2017

Patches are one of the best parts of gaming; you get to play Calvinball in real time, over the span of years. When developers announce their patches, though, they can sound ridiculous whether they’re describing what’s being fixed or introduced. I’ve been monitoring patch notes all year. Here are my favorites, listed by game. Yandere…

What Snacktaku Ate In 2017

If we had known how 2017 was going to turn out, there would have only been one article this year—Our Emotions: The Snacktaku Review. It would have saved us a whole lot of typing, video editing and Tums. But snacking isn’t about why we eat—it’s about what we eat. Here’s what we ate in 2017.…

Wii U Games, Ranked By Probability Of Switch Ports

After Zelda, Mario Kart, Pokken, and now Bayonetta, which Wii U games will end up on Nintendo Switch next? Here are the most (and least) likely suspects. Nintendo hasn’t been shy about porting its Wii U games to Switch, and for good reason: Wii U had a few excellent games, but it was also the…

Battlegrounds Players Are Making Action Movies With The New Replay Feature

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is fun to play, but it might be even more fun to watch. The game’s new replay feature, which lets you set up camera angles and move between perspectives, has elevated ridiculous PUBG deaths to an art form. The replay feature got added to PUBG’s PC test server a few days ago. It…

The argument against the ever-controversial Bayonetta in Super Smash Bros. popped up during WWE’s Clash of Champions event last night. The same person with that sign also pushed the idea that it’s time King Dedede received some improvements Ian Walker loves fighting games and writing about them. You can find him on Twitter at @iantothemax

Breath of the Wild‘s DLC Boss Has A Funny Weakness

Breath of the Wild’s new DLC focuses on Hyrule’s past, telling stories of Link’s companions and the ancient world that came before them. The final boss, a centuries old foe, has a surprising weakness. The Champions’ Ballad’s final challenge is a boss fight against Monk Maz Koshia. The ancient Sheikah tribe warrior employs a variety…

Eight Anime Films Worth Watching That Aren’t By Studio Ghibli

What are your favorite anime movies? Spirited Away? Princess Mononoke? My Neighbor Totoro? Eh, I could see that coming. These Studio Ghibli movies are masterpieces. They’re also not the only anime films out there. Crazy, right? It’s safe to say that Ghibli corners the market for 90-minute escapist anime that makes you feel very nice…

Bootleg Cuphead Port Quickly Pulled From iTunes

A game as popular as Studio MDHR’s animated run-and-gunner is bound to get its fair share of mobile rip-offs, but the bootleg version of Cuphead that showed up on the iTunes app store earlier today was something else—a very rough, semi-playable version of the full game. “Cuphead by StudioMDHR Entertainment Inc.” read the iTunes listing,…

Destiny 2‘s Lack Of Transparency Infuriates Players Yet Again [UPDATE]

There is a certain routine that every dramatic Destiny incident follows, and it popped up yet again this weekend thanks to a visit from everyone’s favorite tentacle-faced alien. The steps go as follows: 1) The game is opaque about a feature. On Friday, Destiny 2 re-introduced the Three of Coins, a consumable item from the…

Dragon Quest Builders comes to the Switch on February 9. The Minecraft-style building RPG was one of several Kotaku writers’ favorite games of 2016, and we’re ready to play it all over again in 2018.

Russian Player Retires After Riot Suspends Him For Saying League Teams Don’t Make Money There

Kirill “Likkrit” Malofeyev received a six-month ban from all League of Legends tournaments after comments he made on-stream about the Russian branch of Riot Games. In response, he announced his retirement on the Russian social media service VKontakte. In the ban announcement, League’s Continental League ruled that on Dec. 1, Likkrit made statements during a…

The Week In Games: Life Is A Highway 

As we descend on the end of 2017 it’s time to take a moment and look back at all of the year’s great games. Fortunately, this week’s release schedule won’t distract you from doing that. Another episode of Life Is Strange arrives this week, along with the latest slew of Switch ports. Nintendo’s handheld is…

Reload

Wouter Gort is a concept artist and illustrator from the Netherlands. You can see more of Wouter’s workat his ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both…

Some Of 2017’s Best Video Game Screenshots

Screenshot artist Andy Cull, a man whose work we’ve featured on Kotaku before, has created a gallery with some of his favourite images taken from games he played in 2017. If nothing else, they make for excellent wallpaper. Obviously, as you’re probably noticing some of these shots look a lot better than anything you’d normally…

Grown Men Dressed As Ninja Turtles Interrupt European Soccer Game

Two men dressed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes crashed the PSG vs Rennes game in Frances Ligue 1 yesterday, interrupting play and getting some cuddles in the process. While the security in some countries/leagues might have tried to break every bone in their bodies, in France they were allowed a bit of a run…

Here’s Some Real Good Star Wars: The Last Jedi Cosplay

Cosplayer Leo Camacho and some friends decided to recreate Vanity Fair’s classy Last Jedi photoshoot, and they’ve done an incredible job with it. Photos are by Mark Edwards

What’s Your Multiplayer Moment Of Glory?

It feels really good to be the game-winner on your team. In single-player games, you’re beating a system, but in multiplayer games you’re conquering the crowd. Whether it’s one-on-one or one-against-100, rising to the top and seizing the crown is one of the best feelings in competitive games. I was recently playing some Battlerite, an…