-
ReviewsYear in ReviewZack Zwiezen’s Top 10 Games Of 2019
2019 was a weird year for games. Some great stuff was released in the last 12 months, but there was also a lot of stuff released in 2019 that felt too broken or unfinished. There was also a feeling that this generation of consoles has hit its breaking point. A lot of games were almost…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 22, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Biggest Video Game Disappointments Of 2019
We had such high hopes for 2019, and then it happened. Sure, there was good stuff, but there were some downers, and that’s what we’re talking about today. Oh, the disappointments the year brought! There was that glitchy Red Dead Redemption 2 launch on PC, Ubisoft’s release of a new take on Ghost Recon that…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 20, 2019 -
ReviewsBoard GamesCrusader Kings: The Kotaku Review
Crusader Kings the video game is a massive, unwieldy thing that can’t possibly be crammed into a 2-3 hour board game experience. But developers Free League, bless them, have certainly given it a shot. Crusader Kings the board game tries to take pretty much every key element of Paradox’s grand strategy series—dynastic characters, complex diplomacy,…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Year In Fighting Game Championships
Fighting games have never been as big or monetarily supported as they were in 2019. Every major fighting game franchise had a developer-backed tour leading into a major championship, many featuring some of the largest prize pools of all time. But if it’s never been easier to make a career out of playing fighting games,…
By Ian Walker Published December 19, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Best Video Game Surprises Of 2019
A lot happened in 2019, and we did not see all of it coming. We didn’t expect Sony to just start blabbing about the PlayStation 5, and we certainly didn’t think we’d first see the next Xbox (officially titled Xbox Series X) during a trailer at The Game Awards. We didn’t anticipate that Reggie Fils-Aime’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 19, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Gamers Of The Year, 2019
Our annual list of gamers of the year is based on a simple premise: that the people who play video games are an integral part of overall gaming culture. In past years, we’ve honored gamers who’ve made news and, often enough, been a positive influence on gaming or the world at large. We do so…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 18, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewLuke Plunkett’s Top 10 Games Of 2019
I’m going to get this out of the way upfront: I did not think 2019 was a great year for video games. Between the dying days of a console generation and the divisive nature of some of the big contenders, this is the hardest I’ve ever had to work to put together a list of…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewHeather Alexandra’s Top 10 Games Of 2019
2019 might be the strangest year of my life so far. It felt more like a full decade compressed into 365 days. But there was, as always, video games. So many video games. Many of them were fantastic. My previous years at Kotaku were defined by a voracious consumption of any and all games, but…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 16, 2019 -
ReviewsBoard GamesPipeline: The Kotaku Review
Pipeline is a board game about buying cheap crude, pushing it through loads of pipes then selling it for cash. It’s clean, it’s stressful, and I’m still not 100% sure whether I like it or not. It’s a Euro-style game, which means that it’s abstracted to an extent from its subject matter and interested more…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 15, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Decade In Five Games
It’s true: Five is a ridiculous number for summing up a decade’s worth of video games. It’s far too small. One can’t even put together an already-insufficient list of one game per year with that little real estate. You should know, then, that this is a different kind of list. This isn’t a list of…
By Joshua Rivera Published December 12, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Most Underrated Games Of The Decade
The decade has come and gone, with the passage of time once again showing that we live in a meaningless universe where we ultimately die. But hey! There were some cool video games along the way. Caught in that catalogue were countless games that were woefully misunderstood, never getting the limelight they deserved. This is…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 11, 2019 -
ReviewsETCInstalling A Video Card: The Kotaku Review
Long ago, when I was much younger and had more free time, I would pull apart old PCs and build new ones. It was fun. I didn’t know what I doing and over time I learned what RAM was and what a motherboard is. Then I stopped doing that, bought some consoles and only bought…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 8, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of PC Gaming In 2019
Sometimes, as borders erode, new fissures form in their wake. In 2019, more games flowed between PC and other platforms than ever before, but a single major division cracked the PC gaming landscape in half. This year’s central throughline was undoubtedly the titanic clash between Valve and Epic, with Epic snatching up every high-profile exclusive…
Nathan Grayson & Riley MacLeod Published December 5, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformYou Should Play Life Is Strange 2
The final episode of Life Is Strange 2, “Wolves,” released on December 3 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. When I try to understand why people did not react with an open outpouring of excitement and glee for Life Is Strange 2 after the success of its predecessor, I think of Marvel movies. Superhero…
By Gita Jackson Published December 4, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of The PlayStation 4 In 2019
PlayStations don’t tend to go quietly at the end of a console generation. The PS2 got God of War II a few months after the PS3 came out. The PS3 got one of its best exclusive games, The Last Of Us, just a few months before the PS4 launched. In 2019, it may have looked…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 4, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformArise: A Simple Story: The Kotaku Review
Arise: A Simple Story might seem familiar, but looks can be deceiving. It’s not necessarily breaking any molds in its minimal art style and platforming, but its heartfelt story took me on a journey that hit me like a ton of bricks. Arise is available today for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. It starts out…
By Paul Tamayo Published December 3, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of Xbox One In 2019
Nearing the end of its life, the Xbox One feels less like a box for spinning video game discs and more like a platform for selling digital subscriptions. The pitch of a mostly-digital future that blew up in Microsoft’s face the year the Xbox One launched is now mostly here in 2019 and it’s not…
By Ethan Gach Published December 3, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformShenmue 3: The Kotaku Review
Shenmue has always straddled the line between the epic and the everyday. Yu Suzuki’s ambitious adventure game series is a story of globe-trotting vengeance and magical relics. It is also a story about helping an old lady around town, or wasting a day at the arcade. Shenmue III feels exactly like the classic that started…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 3, 2019 -
ReviewsControllersLet’s Hear It For Controllers That Glow Just Because They Can
This is PDP’s $50 Afterglow Wireless Deluxe Controller for the Nintendo Switch. I have many third-party game pads for the Nintendo Switch, with all sorts of special features. While the Afterglow has a couple of neat customization features, its main draw is glowing. That’s why I am using it. Glowing is great. Many PC peripherals…
By Mike Fahey Published December 2, 2019 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of The Nintendo Switch In 2019
2019 was the year of the Switch. Wii U is so far in the rear view mirror now that it all just feels like a bad dream. 2019 was the year that Nintendo proved that its console, a true hybrid machine that works just as well as a TV-based player as it does a portable,…
By Chris Kohler Published December 2, 2019