After Almost Three Years Away, Returning To Overwatch Feels Amazing

I have a confession to make: Despite being Kotaku’s number one Overwatch fan, I haven’t played it myself in two years. But buffeted by my optimism for Overwatch 2 and being unable to get my Overwatch fix because Overwatch League won’t be back for another month, I decided to play again, hoping to recapture what…

Bravely Default II’s Beastmaster Job Is Basically Pokémon

Creating your party in Bravely Default II is less about the characters you use than it is the jobs with which you equip them. It’s a smart strategy to always have basic healers and damage-dealers on hand, sure, but when it comes to my party, I don’t foresee ever not having at least one Beastmaster…

What’s The First Setting You Change In Any Game?

It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: What’s the first setting you change in any game? Riley I always immediately turn down the mouse sensitivity in any game I play. I’m weird about…

V1 Interactive Shuts Down Less Than A Year After Releasing Disintegration

V1 Interactive, the studio behind the real-time strategy and first-person shooter hybrid game Disintegration, is shutting down after five years. The studio announced via Twitter today, explaining that, after five years, the studio will officially close. V1’s president, Marcus Lehto, confirmed the news in a separate Tweet and explained the reasoning behind the shutting down…

Tips For Playing Loop Hero

A lot of people have started playing Loop Hero. How do I know this? It hit 50,000 concurrent users on Steam over the weekend. I was one of them. I’ve now put over 25 hours into the deck-building roguelite, and I have some tips for everyone else who’s just getting started with it. At its…

Call of Duty’s Zombie Easter Eggs Were Too Hard, So Cold War Season 2 Is Simplifying Things

Secrets have long been a part of the Call of Duty Zombies formula. But while players have loved hunting for Easter eggs to reveal new bits of lore, according to Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch, very few players find these secrets in-game. So for its latest take on zombies, Treyarch has decided to make…

How To Get Around The PS5’s Screenshot Restrictions

Hitman 3 is a looker. But if you try to take a screenshot on PlayStation 5, you’ll run into an issue: Hitting the Create button causes Hitman 3 itself to pause, meaning you’ll only be able to get a screenshot of the game’s menu. It’s a lovely menu, for sure, but not exactly on par…

Jakks’ Super Mario Bowser Airship Is The Toy Boat I’ve Always Wanted

Coming this fall from Nintendo and Jakks Pacific, the $40 Super Mario deluxe Bowser Ship playset plays the airship theme as the 2.5-inch plumber climbs aboard to wreak havoc. Announced today in honor of this week’s MAR10 holiday, the Bowser Ship is a proper toy playset for proper plastic Mario toys. There’s no Lego funny…

Regulators Approve Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Acquisition Of Bethesda Parent Company Zenimax Media

Microsoft’s $7.5 billion purchase of Zenimax Media, parent company of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom maker Bethesda, has cleared another set of hurdles, winning approval to proceed from both the European Commission and US Securities and Exchange Commissions “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s limited…

Monster Hunter Stories 2 Takes Flight July 9

Monster Hunter fans have a date with a newly-hatched baby Rathalos on July 9, when Capcom launches Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin for the Nintendo Switch and Steam. The original Monster Hunter Stories came out in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS, giving players a new way to interact with the series’ mighty creatures.…

The Week In Games: Apex Legends Drops On Switch

Mark a spot on the map, grab some guns, and get ready to (hopefully) be the last team standing when Apex Legends comes out for free on Switch later this week. I played about three weeks of Apex Legends when it first came out and I enjoyed my time with it, but like all battle…

I Found Some Rad Tracks At This Virtual Japanese Music Festival

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Instead of highlighting a single soundtrack today, I wanna tell you about my visit to a virtual music festival this weekend, where I found lots of intriguing new tunes So that was cool. It started when…

Track: The Last Man on Earth | Artist: Wolf Alice | Album: Blue Weekend

Track: Shot In The Dark | Artist: AC/DC | Album: Power Up

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Has The Best Ending Of The Series

When I think of Assassin’s Creed games, I often remember big cities, cool assassinations, climbing tall towers, and maybe some sea shanties. Rarely do I remember how these games end because they often have forgettable or boring endings, sometimes with bad boss fights. So Assassin’s Creed Syndicate stands out as an exception with its fantastic…