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ReviewsPS4God Of War: The Kotaku Review
There’s a telling scene very early on in the new God of War, in the denouement of an exhausting battle sequence that ends with Kratos and his young son Atreus taking down a massive troll. Dad’s done most of the work, with the arrows fired from Atreus’s bow only contributing a bit of damage to…
By Chris Kohler Published April 20, 2018 -
ReviewsPS4
Yakuza 6: The Kotaku Review
Yakuza 6 is a game of firsts. It’s also a game of lasts. It’s a first because, having creaked along using outdated tech for a number of recent releases, Yakuza 6 is the first game in the series to feel truly “next-gen” thanks to its new “Dragon” (of course it’s called that) engine. You might…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 17, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Sea Of Thieves: The Kotaku Review
Playing Sea of Thieves feels a bit like working in a theater before the set has been completely built. There’s plenty of space to goof around and a few swords in the wings to have mock fights with, but none of its quite ready for show time. A lack of features and polish has frustrated…
By Heather Alexandra Published April 6, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
A Way Out: The Kotaku Review
A Way Out merges narrative games with couch co-op, and the result is a smart and emotional experience so good that it had to be reviewed by two Kotaku writers. We’ve never played a cooperative experience like it. The game cannot be played alone. It takes two players to guide a pair of convicts, a…
Heather Alexandra & Gita Jackson Published March 26, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Far Cry 5: The Kotaku Review
I’ve spent a long time trekking across Far Cry 5’s fictional Hope County, Montana fighting the members of an apocalyptic cult led by a man called Joseph Seed, and I’m still not sure what their deal is. They drive around blasting weird Christian synth and shooting non-members on sight. It’s weird and terrifying and unsatisfyingly…
By Ethan Gach Published March 26, 2018 -
ReviewsBoard Games
Vengeance: The Kotaku Review
Vengeance is what happens when someone takes the murderous revenge tale of movies like Kill Bill and turns them into a board game. Or at least tries to. A game for 1-4 players, Vengeance puts you in control of a person who has been wronged at the hands of criminal gangs, and who is now…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformNi no Kuni II: The Kotaku Review
It can be difficult, as a jaded adult, to appreciate a great fairy tale—one where the hero always wins and naivety is a character strength rather than something to grow out of. So it is with Ni no Kuni II. But if you can look past this game’s more childish tendencies, you’ll find a fairy…
By Jason Schreier Published March 23, 2018 -
ReviewsSwitchKirby Star Allies: The Kotaku Review
Great games are interesting, as are terrible ones. Mediocrity’s a bore. Too bad Nintendo’s newest Kirby game is just that. Kirby Star Allies is the Nintendo Switch debut for a franchise that was on a hot streak in recent years on 3DS. It boasts the same top designers as 2014’s Kirby: Triple Deluxe and 2016’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 16, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Kingdom Come: Deliverance: The Kotaku Review
Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a grand idea. In a genre awash with fantasy epics, it sought to ground a role-playing adventure not in some distant and imaginary land, but in history. There would be no wizards, no dragons, no giant rats—just you, a horse, some mud, and a cast of flawed human beings. Drawing on…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 14, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformSecret Of Mana: The Kotaku Review
Secret of Mana is a broken game that I will always love. Playing through the recent remake forced me to reckon with why that is. Originally released by Square in 1993 on the Super Nintendo, Secret of Mana is the textbook example of the “action role-playing game.” Like any RPG, the damage you do to…
By Chris Kohler Published March 9, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Metal Gear Survive: The Kotaku Review
Metal Gear Survive is wreckage of the long battle between the series’ lead creator, Hideo Kojima, and Konami, his long-time employer who ditched him three years ago. Kojima split with Konami after a lifetime of making Metal Gear games, going back to the first in 1987. Survive is Konami’s attempt to make a new one…
By Heather Alexandra Published March 7, 2018 -
ReviewsHardwareComputers
Zotac Magnus EK71080 Mini PC Review: A Powerful Little Black Box
Zotac is renowned for making powerful mini PCs. Zotac also makes the world’s smallest Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 graphics card. Combine those two things and you’ve got one heck of a powerful small black box. There are several ways to make a very small gaming PC. One way is to make a gaming laptop without…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2018 -
ReviewsPCInto The Breach: The Kotaku Review
Into the Breach is a game about the accumulation of small decisions, good or bad. It’s a game that never lets you forget your past runs, especially your failures. Into the Breach is made by Subset Games, the studio behind 2012’s FTL, the hit strategy game that charged players with keeping a spaceship in flight…
By Riley MacLeod Published February 27, 2018 -
ReviewsETC
Adolescence: The Kotaku Review
The best thing about Adolescence is that it eventually ends. The real life journey that runs from age 13 to 19 starts with a bang. Seemingly overnight, your body is no longer fully under your control. Extra hair, pockets of fat, and pimples have appeared as if by magic. Everything is different. Everything is harder.…
By Gita Jackson Published February 26, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Dynasty Warriors 9: The Kotaku Review
If you’ve played an hour in one Dynasty Warriors game you’ve played an hour in all of them. That’s been the conventional wisdom for a while now and although Dynasty Warriors 9 doesn’t disprove it, it does point toward some interesting new possibilities for the series in its new open world setting. Dynasty Warriors 9…
By Ethan Gach Published February 14, 2018 -
ReviewsBoard Games
Black Fleet: The Kotaku Review
There are too many board games about pirates. But Black Fleet is one you should fight through the fatigue for. It’s similar in scope to other buccaneering board games, since it involves merchants carrying goods across the Caribbean and pirates raiding (or trying to raid) them. But where Black Fleet is cool is that it…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2018 -
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 -
ReviewsPC
Civilization VI: Rise and Fall: The Kotaku Review
It took Civilization V two full expansions to become the classic it’s regarded as today. Civilization VI is halfway there. While my 2016 review of Civ VI was glowing, it did come with the historical reservation that Civilization games are so big, and their design process so ever-evolving, that they’re rarely a masterpiece from the…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 7, 2018 -
ReviewsPS4Shadow Of The Colossus: The Kotaku Review
It’s strange to think about it now, 12 years later, but there was a time when I wondered if Shadow of the Colossus was going to be any good. I was a big fan of its predecessor, Ico, and when the doors opened at E3 2005 I beelined for the Sony booth to get a…
By Chris Kohler Published February 6, 2018