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ReviewsMultiplatformThe Longest Five Minutes: The Kotaku Review
The Longest Five Minutes presents its basic fantasy tale as a series of flashbacks experienced by its amnesiac main character during the game’s final battle. It takes an otherwise generic retro turn-based RPG and turns it into something special. Wait, I’m already at the end of the review? How did I get here? Oh wait.…
By Mike Fahey Published February 13, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformDragon Quest Builders: The Kotaku Review
Here is how I play Minecraft: Step one: find a tree. Step two: build a house. Step three: walk in one direction for five minutes. Step four: get bored, turn off the game. If only there was something like Minecraft, but with tangible goals. And if only it was also… a JRPG? Dragon Quest Builders,…
By Jason Schreier Published February 9, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformEA UFC 3: The Kotaku Review
In MMA, there are fighters who’ve got all the potential in the world, but continually fail to put the pieces together. My heart breaks each time they steal a round from a canny vet, only to be force-fed a diet of dirt and canvas dust in the second. A slip or two on the way…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 2, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformCeleste: The Kotaku Review
Celeste is pure. Each room offers new challenges, but the solution is always the same: jump. Jumping is remixed in dozens of different, exciting ways. Celeste is the very soul of simplicity, and that’s what makes it such a beautiful game. Celeste tells the story of Madeline, a young woman on a journey to climb…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 25, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: The Kotaku Review
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is straightforward. Dump 100 players onto a map, tell them that only one person can win, and watch them tear each other apart. It is brutal and base, violent and wonderful. It’s a game that could only be made in 2017, for better or worse. Battlegrounds, which officially launched on PC this week…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 22, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Reigns: Her Majesty: The Kotaku Review
In my time as queen in Reigns: Her Majesty, I was torn apart by my subjects, eaten by wolves, and burned at the stake. I had affairs with pagan women, barbarian queens from other lands, and rakish explorers of new worlds. I was coronated again and again, born anew to rule once more. You’re always…
By Gita Jackson Published December 7, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatformNine Parchments: The Kotaku Review
When an explosion at the Astral Academy scatters nine magical parchments to the four winds, a group of irresponsible students sets off on an adventure to retrieve the lost magic for their own mischievous use. At least it should be a group. Action RPG Nine Parchments can be played alone, but where’s the fun in…
By Mike Fahey Published December 7, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp: The Kotaku Review
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the new sequel of Nintendo’s cute neighborhood series for cellphones, is Animal Crossing but a bit more stressful. I love it and hate it at the same time. Pocket Camp takes elements from a few different Animal Crossing games and shoves them into a mobile app that’s surprisingly robust. It has…
By Gita Jackson Published December 1, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Battle Chef Brigade: The Kotaku Review
Battle Chef Brigade asks: What if you had to kill a Hydra before competing in Iron Chef? It’s a winning premise, and one that scaffolds the many-headed cooking game’s endless charms. Out today on PC and Switch, Battle Chef Brigade is one-part puzzler, one-part platformer and one-part role-playing game. Its eat-what-you-kill world revolves around Mina…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published November 20, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatformHand of Fate 2: The Kotaku Review
Hand of Fate is a unique hybrid of deck-building card adventure and action role-playing game that came out of nowhere to become one of my favorite games of 2015. Hand of Fate 2 improves upon the original in every way. One minute you’re moving a game piece across a table covered with Tarot-like adventure cards,…
By Mike Fahey Published November 20, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Star Wars: Battlefront II: The Kotaku Review
Star Wars: Battlefront II frustrates me in ways I never knew I could be frustrated. It is both a lovingly crafted companion to the films and a tangled mess of corporate meddling. There is a strong heart at the center but finding it means peeling back layers of unnecessary and infuriating nonsense. We’ve republished this…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 17, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatformLego Marvel Super Heroes 2: The Kotaku Review
When we last left Lego Marvel Super Heroes, the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four had banded together to gather the cosmic doohickeys needed to finish story mode and get to the exciting free-roaming bits. Four years later, the X-Men and Fantastic Four are gone, but everything else is pretty much the same. Lego Marvel Super…
By Mike Fahey Published November 14, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatformSonic Forces: The Kotaku Review
Sonic Forces is a fever dream of fan-fiction that is awkward to play but still manages to be trashy fun. Set in a grim future where Sonic has been defeated by Doctor Robotnik and his mysterious new henchman Infinite, Sonic Forces follows the series’ cast of heroic animals as they fight a dire war to…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 8, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Call of Duty: WWII: The Kotaku Review
Call of Duty has recently gotten lost in a future of jetpack boosting, robots, and wacky laser guns, leaving the franchise feeling almost unrecognizable. Sledgehammer Games’ latest entry in the long-running war shooter series, Call of Duty: WWII, sends the game back to basic training in more ways than just a simple rewinding of time.…
By S.E. Doster Published November 7, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: The Kotaku Review
The warm sun beats down on a main street in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, just in time for the Victory Day parade. Uniformed SS march down swastika-filled streets to thunderous applause. By the old diner, two members of the Ku Klux Klan practice their German. Everyone is white and happy. And it is so…
By Heather Alexandra Published October 30, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatformAssassin’s Creed Origins: The Kotaku Review
For all its extraordinary visual splendor, Assassin’s Creed Origins is ultimately an ordinary video game. That’s not such a bad thing, particularly if you like looking at pretty vistas and watching numbers go up. Origins is the 10th main entry in Ubisoft’s series of historical murder games. It is also the latest in the current…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 26, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Fire Emblem Warriors: The Kotaku Review
Playing Fire Emblem Warriors feels a bit like herding a pack of ravenous lions. Countless enemies clash against heroes in glorious combat that mixes strategy and absurdity. It’s occasionally overwhelming but if you can tame the mayhem, the result is beautiful. The new game, which is out on the Switch and New 3DS, is part…
By Heather Alexandra Published October 23, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
The Evil Within 2: The Kotaku Review
When we meet Sebastian Castellanos at the beginning of The Evil Within 2, he’s a broken man. The mind-bending events of the previous installment fractured his psyche. He blames himself for not being able to save his daughter Lily from a house fire, and his wife left him. He’s been booted from the police force…
By Stacie Ponder Published October 20, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
South Park: The Fractured But Whole: The Kotaku Review
Early in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, you go up against an enemy kid who cheats. He complains that your last attack shouldn’t count, which heals him to full strength. Then, whining that you didn’t listen when he called “time out,” he steals your turn. It’s an enjoyable reminder of the game’s stakes. Despite…
By Jason Schreier Published October 18, 2017 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Brawlhalla: The Kotaku Review
Brawlhalla is a rebellious platform fighter born of a genre dominated by exactly one game. Unlike that game, it didn’t have 15 years of lovable Nintendo characters to work with, or four iterations’ worth of fans. Instead, Brawlhalla is weird. It’s got a fighter made out of the stars and galaxies of space who battles…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published October 17, 2017