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ReviewsMultiplatformCyberpunk 2077’s Character Creator: The Kotaku Review
The thing that interested me the most about Cyberpunk 2077 was its character creator. I’m someone who’s spent a lot of her time thinking about character creators and how they work for people who are not cis, white, able bodied, or male. I had hope that Cyberpunk’s creator would meaningfully include the wealth of human…
By Ash Parrish Published December 15, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformYakuza: Like A Dragon: The Kotaku Review
After an exhausting run of seven main games, some spinoffs and the sandwiched-but-excellent Judgment, the Yakuza series entered a new era in 2020 with the release of Like a Dragon, which is trying to be something completely new, only it’s also not. It sure seems new. The star of Yakuzas 0-6, Kazuma Kiryu, snuck off…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 8, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformImmortals: Fenyx Rising: The Kotaku Review
Immortals: Fenyx Rising isn’t the game I was expecting. I was prepared for a big Ubisoft open-world action game filled with colorful vistas, Greek gods, and some elements inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. It is all of that, but it’s not just Assassin’s Creed: Hyrule. It’s a welcome streamlining of…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 3, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformDestiny 2: Beyond Light: The Kotaku Review
A new year, a new expansion, a new Destiny 2. With Beyond Light, Bungie’s six-year-old loot shooter looks as beautiful and feels as good to play as it ever has, complete with small quality-of-life improvements and a satisfying story that delves into some of the series’ longstanding mysteries and even offers a few, uncharacteristically human…
By Ethan Gach Published November 24, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformAssassin’s Creed: Valhalla: The Kotaku Review
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, a huge game made during a pandemic and with its own studio and parent company in crisis, is a game trying to do some difficult things. The first Assassin’s Creed in two years, and the 12th major Assassin’s Creed overall, it is the work of creators who are trying to honor the…
By Zack Zwiezen Published November 9, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformFIFA 21 vs PES 21: Which Is Better?
Welcome to the Year Of Bad Sports Video Games. I’ve been doing this head-to-head review for years now, the only one of its kind in Kotaku’s critical arsenal, because this is the only space in video games where it makes sense to do it. FIFA v PES is the last significant battleground in sports, and…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 26, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformStar Wars: Squadrons: The Kotaku Review
While plenty of games over the last few years have let lightsaber and blaster fans live out their dreams, it’s been a while since a big Star Wars game focused exclusively on starships and space combat. Thankfully for more dogfight-obsessed fans, the newly released Star Wars: Squadrons lets you become an ace pilot for both…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 2, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformHades: The Kotaku Review
Hades is my game of the year. It’s also the game of the year. I don’t mean to say that Hades is objectively the best, because that’s an impossible metric (and also Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t out yet). Rather, developer Supergiant’s Greek mythology-flavored action roguelike is, improbably, the game that best characterizes the year 2020.…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 30, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformNBA 2K21: The Kotaku Review
When I sit down with 2K’s new basketball game every year, I normally only take the time to review its MyCareer mode, since that’s the part I’m most interested in. But this year I blew through it so quickly that I was able to play the rest of the game as well, so surprise, we’re…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 10, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformMarvel’s Avengers: The Kotaku Review
There are many things I do not like about Marvel’s Avengers, one of the best comic book video games I’ve played. I don’t like grinding missions to earn more powerful equipment so I can take on more difficult missions. I don’t like my heroes’ inventories slowly filling with junk until I have to pause the…
By Mike Fahey Published September 9, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2: The Kotaku Review
Let’s just get this out of the way: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a masterpiece. In perfectly mimicking the iconic skateboarding series’ first two outings, this remaster gives me everything I could ever want out of a game. I am dumbfounded by there somehow being something so good and pure in the world. I…
By Ian Walker Published September 3, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformCarrion: The Kotaku Review
In Carrion you move so fast, so malevolently, it’s genuinely unsettling… even though you’re the one in control. And controlling this repellent offal-beast is never better than when you prepare surprise attacks for well-armed military forces. Two machine gun-toting army boys, with anti-me shields fizzling in front of them, thought they could be the heroes.…
By John Walker Published July 23, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformPokémon Smile: The Kotaku Review
Maybe you thought it would be easy to write/laugh this one off as a dumb gimmick, but for real: Pokémon Smile is one of the most important video games to have entered my household in years I have two kids, one 9, the other 7, and while both are beautiful, wonderful little people, both of…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformGrand Theft Auto Online: The Kotaku Review
Rockstar never meant to support GTA Online for nearly a decade and counting. That was never the plan. Yet GTA Online continues to be updated, and oddly, now in 2020, it’s bigger than ever. Grand Theft Auto Online launched as part of something else. It was the multiplayer mode attached to Grand Theft Auto V,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published June 29, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformManeater: The Kotaku Review
So many games only let me play as a human. Sure, that’s fun, but it’s not really taking full advantage of games’ ability to let us be and do anything. Maneater gets it. In Maneater, I’m not a dull person—I’m a shark. A dangerous, agile, and cool shark, free to swim anywhere and eat whatever…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 22, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformResident Evil 3: The Kotaku Review
About five minutes into the Resident Evil 3 remake, I uttered the word “brilliant.” I don’t use that word often. I don’t know if I should have used it then. Brilliance is an incredibly rare thing, but Resident Evil 3 hooked me from the start. So I used the word. It is an explosive game…
By Heather Alexandra Published March 30, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformDoom Eternal: The Kotaku Review
2016’s Doom reimagined the classic shooter into a frantic but modern mold. The bloody escapades of the Doom Slayer were rife with bullets and guts. It was a grimy video game hamburger. Doom Eternal is bigger and bloodier, almost to the point of excess. It’s the same hamburger dipped into a vat of delicious special…
By Heather Alexandra Published March 24, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformOri And The Will Of The Wisps: The Kotaku Review
During my time with an early reviewable version of Ori and the Will of the Wisps,, I experienced multiple lockups, intense framerate stutter, and a bug that warped me to the other side of the map after a death. I had a boss battle I’d attempted a half-dozen times reset completely as I landed the…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformThe Division 2: Warlords Of New York: The Kotaku Review
When The Division 2 launched last March, the cover-based shooter set in a wrecked Washington, DC was received positively by fans and critics. Then things soured. Players who expected a game that would expand over time were disappointed by a lack of new content as well as balance changes that nerfed popular character builds. Months…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 6, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformGranblue Fantasy Versus: The Kotaku Review
It seems like everything is getting a fighting game adaptation these days. Dragon Ball Z, RWBY, Power Rangers, League of Legends, you name it. Granblue Fantasy, one of many mobile role-playing gacha games that asks players to spend real money on virtual slot machines, is the latest to jump aboard the train. While I have…
By Ian Walker Published March 2, 2020