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UncategorizedSteel Division II, So Close To An RTS Classic, And Yet So Far
I’ve never tried harder to like a game in my life than Steel Division II On paper it seems absolutely perfect for me: it’s a pretty World War II real-time strategy game, it’s quite serious about its physics and ballistics range and unit composition and it has some bold, almost board-gamey ways for its battles…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedCustom Controller Lets You Rage-Quit By Literally Pouring Salt
A very wise man who wore a hood and whose skin was practically melting off his bones once said, “Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you.” Probably, he was talking to a gamer about video games. Competitive games make people mad. There’s no getting around it, so you might as…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedSplit Screen Was Quietly Removed From Black Ops 4, But It’ll Be Back This Month
Last week, as part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s June 25 update, Treyarch quietly removed split screen co-op play from the game’s battle royale mode, Blackout. At first, no one was sure what was going on, but today, Treyarch said the feature will return on July 9. “Split screen Duos in Blackout was…
By Ethan Gach Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedEverything That’s New In Apex Legends Season Two
Apex Legends Season 2 arrived today. While players have known a lot of what it would contain for a while, it’s exciting to finally see the new character, weapons, and locations in action. As video producer Paul Tamayo and I discuss in the video above, the most notable Season 2 change is new character Wattson.…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedRole-Locking Could Resuscitate The Overwatch League
“Can I say anything I want?” asked Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park after a particularly satisfying victory for his Overwatch League team, the New York Excelsior, last year. His translator nodded. Park’s eyes lit up. “I’m the best Tracer in the world.” He stuck his tongue out. Park was referring to the Overwatch hero Tracer, a zippy…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedI Could Watch Final Fantasy XIV’s New Big-Headed Cactuars Trying To Pose All Day
With their distinctive cactus appearance and signature pose, Cactuars are one of Final Fantasy’s most iconic creatures. The top-heavy Gigantender, introduced in Final Fantasy XIV’s latest expansion, is doing the best it can to live up to that legacy, bless its giant plant heart. Cactuar are called Sabotenders in Final Fantasy XIV, using the Japanese…
By Mike Fahey Published July 2, 2019 - Uncategorized
The Switch version of Layton’s Mystery Journey, the 2017 3DS and mobile installment of the Professor Layton series of puzzle games, will be released in North America on November 8. It’s called Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy – Deluxe Edition and appears to be the same expanded version released in Japan last…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedFighting Game Tournament Has Too Much Actual Fighting
Community Effort Orlando has grown to become one of the biggest fighting game tournaments in the world, putting it just below the Evolution Championship Series in terms of both size and importance. The event’s 13 different fighting games were exciting to watch, but in a few cases, the excitement got to be a bit much.…
By Ian Walker Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedStop Calling Games ‘Metroidvania’
Let’s talk about one of my least favorite words in the video game lexicon: metroidvania. A portmanteau combining the video game titles Metroid and Castlevania, it takes two made-up video game titles that are pretty cool and evocative on their own and inelegantly mashes them into something worse. And now, that word is one we…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedPhotographer Captures The Hidden Beauty Inside Stripped Down Gaming Consoles
What do the guts a Game Boy look like? In a new art series called Assembly Required, photographer Richard Parry takes apart old video game consoles to document all of their internal components, revealing the mesmerizing machinery inside their familiar plastic shells. Parry, an electrician by trade, started with the original Game Boy, the finished…
By Ethan Gach Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedCuphead Developers Delay DLC, Cite Desire To Make Games In A Healthier Way
Fans of tough-as-nails animated shoot-’em-up Cuphead have been waiting since 2018 for Delicious Last Course, a DLC expansion with a whiff of finality about it. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to wait a little longer, because it’s been delayed to 2020. The developers offered a commitment to quality and a focus on sustainable development practices…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Division 2 Is Testing Some Much-Requested Features
There’s going to be a lot less to complain about regarding The Division 2 if a batch of features going live in a test build this week make it into the proper game later this month. Ubisoft’s impressive but contentious shooter appears to be getting flashlights (much requested!), badly needed buffs for gadget skills, and…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 2, 2019 -
CultureThe Video Games That Made People Question Their Beliefs
When Scott Udall first played Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance shortly after it came out in 2005, he was in a vulnerable spot. Udall, who grew up Mormon in Salt Lake City, Utah, was very religious, and his family were all politically active Republicans. His parents had gone through a messy divorce, and he’d lost…
By Gita Jackson Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedSeeing A Video Game Instruction Manual In 2019 Makes Me So Happy
No matter how good or bad sexy pinball game Senran Kagura Peach Ball turns out, I will always remember it for the kindness of providing me a tiny manual in these days of physical video game instruction scarcity. My love of video game manuals is well-documented. Years ago, during the launch of the Wii U,…
By Mike Fahey Published July 2, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThe Randomly Generated Art Made By My Dwarf Fortress Dwarves Is Terrible
One of my favorite parts of playing Dwarf Fortress is the randomly generated legendary artifacts that my dwarves make. Usually, they’re epic pieces of armor or furniture or crafts that are decorated in brilliant gems and images from the dwarves’ memories. In the game I was playing yesterday, the dwarves kept giving me dumb pieces…
By Gita Jackson Published July 2, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformWILL: A Wonderful World: The Kotaku Review
When I booted up the Switch port of WILL: A Wonderful World, the game told me about its autosave function. Then I saw this, set next to a red megaphone icon: “This game includes occasional **** plots. When shocked or surprised please scream loudly and disturb your neighbors.” The stars could refer to anything—botched assassinations,…
By Natalie Degraffinried Published July 2, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsGreed Is Good In Gwent‘s New Novigrad Expansion
Gwent’s latest expansion, Novigrad, launched on Friday, and I’ve been playing almost nonstop since. After months away from the Witcher 3-inspired card game, I’ve fallen for Gwent all over again. The Novigrad expansion adds a new theme and mechanics that draw on what I love about the source material, and it also helps the game…
By Ethan Gach Published July 2, 2019 -
UncategorizedShenmue III Developers Offer Refunds To Kickstarter Backers Angry About Epic Store Exclusivity
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Fans are upset that an upcoming new game is an Epic Games Store exclusive, and the developers have to react. This time it’s Shenmue III, whose creators said today that any Kickstarter backers displeased with the state of things will be able to get a refund. Last…
By Jason Schreier Published July 2, 2019
