Not Everyone Loved The Smash Balls In Nintendo’s Latest Smash Ultimate Tournament

Hundreds of PAX East attendees crowded around a small stage in the expo hall last Saturday afternoon to see if Seth, one of the top-ranked Smash players in Chicago, could keep his team alive in Nintendo’s North America Open against his opponent Poltergust. As both players deployed deadly items and Final Smash attacks, the hall…

Risk Of Rain 2 Brings An Excellent Roguelike To 3D

Risk of Rain 2 surprise launched in early access last week. The game is a followup to Hopoo Games’ 2013 Risk of Rain, a 2D roguelike platformer. Though it makes some changes to the original formula, Risk of Rain 2 is less a sequel and more the original game remade in 3D. This is great.…

Sekiro Speedrunners Discover Wild Techniques To Beat The Game In 40 Minutes

Since Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice came out, speedrunners have been attacking the game at full force, ripping through the game’s early routes and finding ways to go fast in a game full of difficulty walls. Last week, speedrunner Danflesh managed to knock out the game’s shortest route in 50 minutes. Since then, the record for…

The Best (And Worst) April Fools’ Day Jokes For 2019

It’s April 1 again, the day when everyone and every brand’s got jokes. Some of them are good. Most of them are bad. Many of the game-related ones will show up here. It’s a whole thing. Square Kirby Hal Laboratory transformed one of the world’s most famous spheres into a cube. Square Kirby’sgot his own…

Dwarf Fortress Has Destroyed My Perception Of Time

This weekend I played Dwarf Fortress until the sun came up. Again. I don’t know why this keeps happening when I play Dwarf Fortress. On Saturday evening, after I got back from my boyfriend’s place and had thrown my laundry in the washing machine, I was alone in my apartment and not in the mood…

Video Game News Subreddit Closes For 24 Hours To Protest Bigotry [Updated]

Last night, /r/Games, a subreddit with 1.7 million subscribers, announced it would be closing on April Fool’s Day to shed light on the bigotry in the online gaming community. “Not April Fool’s,” the post begins. It continues: “This April Fool’s, we decided to take things a little more seriously and shed some light on a…

The Week In Games: Darkside Of The Switch

After a busy last week, this week is much quieter. No huge games, but for Switch owners looking for some demon killing, Darksiders Warmastered Edition hits the portable system this week. I just started playing the first Darksiders game. I needed something to play as I take some time away from The Division 2. I…

Japan’s New Imperial Era Revealed For The First Time

Today, the Japanese government announced the name of the new imperial era: Reiwa (令和). It will replace Heisei, the name of the current imperial era. Heisei (平成) literally means “become peace,” and the era began in 1989 when the current Emperor took to the throne. Thus, the year Heisei 1 is 1989, Heisei 2 is…

This Is Either A Cruel Joke Or A Terribly Timed Game Announcement

Today, game maker Granzella launched a website for R-Type Final 2. Today is April Fool’s Day. This is either an awful, mean joke or terrible timing. The official website doesn’t look like a joke—unless the humor is so subtle that it has gone completely over my head. “Granzella has started planning to bring out the…

Tokyo Streetscapes

Elora Pautratis a concept artist and illustrator working for Evening Star, the studio made up of a lot of Sonic Mania vets You can see more of Elora’s stuff at her personal site and Instagram

PAX East is finally over and I’m dead. At least for now. I’ll return in my new form on Monday. Also Graveyard Keeper on Switch is good. 

Snake Gets Added To Google Maps

Snake, the game most famous for its appearance on ancient Nokia phones, is making a temporary comeback over the next day or two (depending on where you are in the world) with a version being added to Google Maps for an April 1 treat. It’s available from April 1 on both iOS and Android, and…

Manhunt Hates You And Wants You To Suffer

Many games are about escapism. Allowing the player to escape from their boring or shitty life and experience something incredible or impossible. In the popular shooter series Halo, players become the Master Chief; a badass super soldier capable of destroying armies of enemies by himself. He is in command of soldiers on the battlefield and…

Windjammers 2 Is A Lot Of Fun

On its 25th anniversary, Windjammers is finally getting a sequel. But despite a new art-style and slightly more complex gameplay, the studio behind Windjammers 2 said it wants to stay as true to the pure joy and simplicity found in the original. I played the game for half an hour at PAX East, and while…

The Division 2 Needs More Quarantine Zones

The combat in The Division 2 feels great and is one of the main parts of the game that keeps me coming back. Yet, one of my favorite things in The Division 2, quarantine zones, aren’t about combat or even shooting really. Instead, these spaces are focused on exploration and narrative. I really wish there…