This week, we shared our thoughts on Two Point Museum, the latest in developer Two Point’s humorous series of management sims. We also offered up some opinions on what the big takeaways are from this week’s Pokémon Presents showcase, and paid homage to the Nemesis system, the patented technology that allowed Monolith—which was shuttered this week by Warner Bros.—to make your conflicts with orcs in its Middle-earth games so dynamic and compelling. Read on for these opinions and more.
Today’s Pokémon Presents was more notable for what it didn’t include than for what it did. While news of Legends: Z-A was very welcome, what was not mentioned—nor ever rumored to be mentioned—was Pokémon’s next mainline entry. And yet, based on the pattern of the last decade-and-a-half, this should have been the day we learned of a new core title in the world’s most popular franchise, and got our first few hints about a whole new generation of pocket monsters. But...silence. - John Walker Read More
Today, February 25, it was announced Warner Bros. is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego, as well as canceling Monolith’s Wonder Woman game. This follows multiple stories of turnover at the company, including the shutdown of crossover fighter Multiversus and the bombing of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Warner Bros. has been struggling on several fronts in recent years, including trouble in its television and film arms. Following Warner’s mishandling of so much talent and so many otherwise reliable franchises, the creatives who made great games like the Middle-earth series have now been caught in the crossfire. One deeply frustrating wrinkle in this is that one of Monolith Productions’ greatest claims to fame has been patented by the same company that just shut down the studio. - Kenneth Shepard Read More
What is a role-playing game? You probably have your own definition and exceptions. And as you might expect, nearly everyone at Kotaku has thoughts and opinions on what is and isn’t an RPG. For example, some think Elden Ring is an RPG. Others disagree strongly. And then some think the idea of categorizing games via genre is a waste of time. - Zack Zwiezen Read More
We didn’t see Pokémon Champions in motion during the Pokémon Presents showcase today, but the new battle simulator might be the most important announcement made during the presentation. The game is being positioned as the future of Pokémon’s competitive play, as evidenced by the teaser trailer showing players using items like Game Boy link cables to battle, all culminating in a modern-day battle between a Switch user and a mobile player in Champions. While the average trainer is probably most excited to return to Kalos in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Champions could fundamentally change how competitive Pokémon operates, and by extension open up a design space for RPGs like Z-A. - Kenneth Shepard Read More
It was announced last week that video game artist Viktor Antonov had died at the unreasonably young age of 52. With stints working at big-name studios like Valve and Arkane, Antonov’s work was a key part of some of the most loved games of all time. It was his unmistakable style that defined Half-Life 2's City 17 and Dishonored’s Dunwall, two of the most distinctive and unforgettable locations in game history. We spoke to people who knew and loved him to learn more about Antonov and his work. - John Walker Read More
Two Point Museum—out March 4 on PC and consoles—is the latest game in the Two Point series of wacky British business simulators. This time around, instead of running a hospital or building a profitable college, you are tasked with building and maintaining a successful museum. Doing so is tricky, but in a perfectly irresistible way that has sucked hours of my life away in a blink of an eye. - Zack Zwiezen Read More
What if finding the perfect game to play was as easy as swiping left and right in a dating app, minus the actual horrors of online dating? That’s part of the pitch behind Ludocene, an app for game recommendations that uses humans rather than machines to tell you what to play. The other part of the pitch is turning personal gaming taste into a slick-looking deckbuilder rogulite. - Ethan Gach Read More
The world is built on sharing. Sure, it might seem like the most counter-cultural act imaginable amidst these late-stage capitalism end-of-days horrors, but the very internet on which you’re reading these words wouldn’t exist without it. The games you play depend on it. It’s the very core of art itself. So, it’s generally a pretty good thing when games industry people remember this. Speaking of which, EA just made the code for the first four Command & Conquer games officially open source. - John Walker Read More
On Saturday, February 22, I hiked up to the Town Hall music venue in Manhattan for Shovel Knight Live: Steel Thy Concert, in which an orchestral and rock ensemble performed tunes from Yacht Club’s hugely popular platformer. I haven’t played Shovel Knight in nearly a decade, but I love live music and the thought of hearing the game’s chiptune soundtrack rearranged for live instrumentation was enough to pique my interest. It wasn’t until I saw a sign stating that recording and taking photos during the performance was prohibited, however, that I realized how few Shovel Knight fans would ever get to hear the stunning arrangements performed at the extremely limited engagement. - Kenneth Shepard Read More
