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ReviewsMultiplatform
Guacamelee 2: The Kotaku Review
Guacamelee 2 feels great to play. It’s a demanding platformer with elements drawn from the beat ‘em ups of old but executed with such precision they feel modern. The way throwing a punch can be intertwined with hoping over a pit of lava transforms every obstacle into a puzzle. Despite surface similarities and homages to…
By Ethan Gach Published August 21, 2018 -
Reviews
Halo 5: The Kotaku Re-Review
Each new Halo game since 2007’s Halo 3 gets some praise, then fades, and then is pointed to as a sign that the Xbox’s once-unstoppable franchise is hitting a wall. Halo 5, released in 2015, deserves a different reputation. The first new Halo game on Xbox One got the accolades three years ago, then faded as…
By Ethan Gach Published August 16, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformMonster Hunter: World: The Kotaku Review
Video games often deal in illusions, proffering the fantasy of control and power even when your meaningful influence is minimal. Monster Hunter: World, the new third-person action game from Capcom, absolutely deals in fantasy. It plucks you from reality and sets you in the domains of exotically imposing monsters that you must hunt. In this…
By Keza MacDonald Published August 9, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Dead Cells: The Kotaku Review
In my first game of Dead Cells, I died after about four minutes. In my most recent one, I lasted almost an hour. The time difference between those two attempts says a lot about how Dead Cells evolves as you play it, and how you evolve alongside it. That first game went something like this:…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 6, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformThe Banner Saga 3: The Kotaku Review
The Banner Saga 3 is the final entry in a Kickstarted trilogy of strategy games. It’s the culmination of four years of fantasy adventuring, in which the decisions you make on the battlefield are almost as important as those you make in the middle of a conversation. It’s a series that divides its design between…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 2, 2018 -
Reviews3DS
WarioWare Gold: The Kotaku Review
The first time I ever played a WarioWare game, I was drunk. Even so, I remember it pretty well. It was March of 2003, and I was living in Kyoto, Japan, about a 20-minute walk from the building where they made WarioWare. Every so often, I’d take the train down to nearby Osaka to meet…
By Chris Kohler Published August 2, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Chasm: The Kotaku Review
I went into Chasm searching for something that would knock me on my ass. What I found was entertaining, but nothing more. Plenty of secrets, hidden dangers, and mysterious evils lurk deep within Chasm’s side-scrolling labyrinth, which is made lively and vibrant thanks to some truly amazing pixel art. Halfway through 2018 though, there’s almost…
By Ethan Gach Published August 1, 2018 -
ReviewsPS4Yakuza 0: The Kotaku Review
You no longer have an excuse not to play a Yakuza game. I’ve been telling people for years to try this series, all the while knowing deep down that I was asking the impossible. I mean…jumping into such a lore-heavy franchise at its 4th and 5th entry, hundreds of hours deep into conspiracies and personal…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 1, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchOctopath Traveler: The Kotaku Review
Eight people gather in a tavern, swapping stories and preparing for adventure. It’s not clear why they’re traveling together—there’s a pious cleric and a murderous dancer in this odd crew—but they’ve united nonetheless. As they wander across the world, each of these people gets their turn to take the reins. In one city the hunter…
By Jason Schreier Published July 12, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Hollow Knight: The Kotaku Review
In Hollow Knight, looks can be deceiving. A sad little lamplit town may hide the entrance to a beautiful buried kingdom. A towering knight might turn out to be a sad, small thing in outsized armor. An onrushing green beast may actually be a wee creature disguised by a pile of leaves. And a simple-looking…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 5, 2018 -
ReviewsBoard Games
Terraforming Mars: The Kotaku Review
Mars is inhospitable. Let’s change that. Terraforming Mars is not a new game, having been released in 2016, but I still thought it was worth reviewing here in 2018 because a) I just played it and b) it’s so damn good A game for 1-5 players, Terraforming Mars puts players in control of futuristic corporations…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 28, 2018 -
ReviewsBoard Games
Giant Killer Robots: Heavy Hitters: The Kotaku Review
I’ve played plenty of board games that are better than GKR, but I don’t think I’ve ever played one that’s cooler than GKR Giant Killer Robots: Heavy Hitters is the first board game designed by the guys at WETA, the art and effects house you probably know from stuff like Lord of the Rings, Mad…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 31, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformChrono Trigger: The Kotaku Review
This SNES classic is still almost perfect
By Chris Kohler Published May 31, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformPillars Of Eternity II: The Kotaku Review
Toward the end of my time with pirate RPG Pillars of Eternity II, one of my crew members, foul-mouthed furball Serafen, presented me with a gift. It was a garment meant to be worn by a captain, he said, but after witnessing me pass so many difficult moral tests with flying colors, he’d decided captaining…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 29, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Dark Souls Remastered: The Kotaku Review
When Dark Souls released in 2011, it helped solidify a new genre of action RPG. Since then, players have held onto the game, with fight clubs and massive, yearly revisitations. Dark Souls is more ritual than game at this point, and it was only inevitable that we’d get a remaster. I think I’m okay with…
By Heather Alexandra Published May 29, 2018 -
ReviewsPS4
Detroit: Become Human: The Kotaku Review
The PS4’s latest blockbuster moviegame Detroit: Become Human is like something my Alexa would come up with, were I to ask her to write a story about androids with feelings. As I imagine it, the vaguely sinister, sporadically helpful digital assistant that currently resides on my desk would quickly synthesize a bunch of pop sci-fi…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 24, 2018 -
ReviewsXBoxState Of Decay 2: The Kotaku Review
It’s easy to get in over your head in the open-world zombie survival game State of Decay 2 A call for help came in over the radio, and my follower and I set out for a nearby farmhouse. We had plenty of ammo, full health, and brand new melee weapons. The sun was shining brightly.…
By Stacie Ponder Published May 22, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchHyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition: The Kotaku Video Review
Hyrule Warriors came out for the Nintendo Wii U in 2014. It came out for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. In 2018, Nintendo finally looked “Hyrule Warriors” up in the dictionary. That’s my joke about the word “definitive”! Don’t worry. I, uh, I won’t make another one, much as I would like to. A Musou…
By Tim Rogers Published May 16, 2018 -
ReviewsPC
Spy Party: The Kotaku Early Access Review
Someone is a spy and you need to take them out. There’s only thirty seconds left for them to bug the ambassador and complete their mission. You see movement out of the corner of your eye? Is that balding man reaching towards the ambassador’s pocket? You take the shot and the party goers scream. Over…
Gita Jackson & Heather Alexandra Published April 20, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitch
Nintendo Labo: The Kotaku Review
The first question you might have about Labo is: what’s so special about a box of cardboard and some mini-games? And the first thing to understand about Labo is that what’s actually in the box is only part of the appeal. What’s more valuable is what this tiny cartridge and its accompanying sheets of cardboard…
By Keza MacDonald Published April 20, 2018