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Kotaku EastJapanJapanese Company Creates “Monster Hunter Holiday” For New Game’s Release
Whenever a massive game is released, no doubt, diehard fans wish nothing more than to take the day off. Some may suddenly find themselves coming down with a cold and the only recipe for recovery is a day of gaming. But employees at Tokyo-based VR-studio Mark-On don’t need to feign illness. Exec Jack Masaki formally…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 24, 2021 -
Culture1000s Of Steam Games Now Let You Play With People Who Don’t Even Have Steam Accounts
An update to Steam released earlier this week has, tucked away in its changelog, a very cool piece of news: if you’re playing a game that supports Remote Play Together, you can now invite anyone to play with you, even if they don’t have a Steam account. This won’t work for all Steam games, only…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureWatch Dogs: Legion Will Be Free To Play This Weekend
Watch Dogs: Legion, Ubisoft’s open-world hacker game, will be free-to-play on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC starting March 25, the developer announced today in a blog post. The trial will allow you full access to the game’s open world. While you can complete Legion’s critical path in less than 20 hours—plenty for one marathon of a…
By Ari Notis Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsPuzzle Quest 3 Does The Match-Three RPG A Little Differently
The game that kicked off the match-three/RPG genre in 2007 is back for a third go with Puzzle Quest 3. An early preview of the Android version of the threequel reveals a somewhat more dynamic take on the genre mash-up. Giving players two seconds to map out their moves makes a big difference. The basic…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsLiliana Vess, Noted Magic: The Gathering Girlboss, Now Teaches Kids At Strixhaven
As the Kaldheim cycle comes to a close, Wizards of the Coast has started to tease cards from Strixhaven, Magic: The Gathering’s forthcoming magical academy-themed set. I don’t pay too much attention to card teases, preferring—somewhat unwisely—to go into a new set completely unaware of what might turn up and picking cards in the moment.…
By Ash Parrish Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureSerious Sam 2 Gets Massive Update 15 Years After Release
Croatian studio Croteam has partnered with independent developer Nathan “DwK” Brown to release a huge update to Serious Sam 2 today, more than a few years removed from the first-person shooter’s late 2005 launch. “It’s been five billion years since the last proper update for Serious Sam 2,” Croteam explained on Steam. “In the meantime, we…
By Ian Walker Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureMagic: Legends Open Beta Is Go
Cryptic Studios’ free-to-play Magic: The Gathering-meets-Diablo action card-playing game has launched into open beta via Arc Games and the Epic Games Store, giving players all over the world the chance to play the game Kotaku’s Ash Parrish said several nice things about. Magic: Legends is colorful spells versus hordes of creatures, with that signature Magic…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionSo-Called Pirates Are Doing The Work When Publishers Fail To Preserve Their Games
Yesterday, TheGamer reported that Sony has plans to shut down the online PS3, PS Vita, and PSP stores that service those older consoles. While this has yet to be confirmed, and Sony has not responded to Kotaku’s request for comment, the internet discourse around this potentially troubling news immediately began to swirl. If these stores…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureAmazon Doubles Down On Trying To Make Games With New Studio Led By Ex-Rainbow Six Siege Developers
Amazon is opening a new game studio in Montreal led by former Rainbow Six Siege developers to work on a new multiplayer game, the company announced today. The new studio, which joins the company’s existing ones across Seattle, Orange County, and San Diego, will be led by Ubisoft veterans Luc Bouchard, Xavier Marquis, Alexandre Remy,…
By Ethan Gach Published March 23, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsI Can’t Wait To Play Monster Hunter Rise With Other People
The review embargo for Monster Hunter Rise has lifted, and while I’ve been having a heck of a good time battling beasts with my AI dog and cat friends, online play is still a couple of days away. And everybody knows Monster Hunter is more fun with other people. The majority of the several days…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsHalf-Life & BioShock Come Together In A Very Strange Mod
Return to Rapture is a “campaign” made for Half-Life: Alyx that takes Valve’s star and drops her into the completely unrelated first-person world of 2007’s BioShock There’s a “plot” to explain this—basically, the Combine have found Rapture—but in essence you’ll be using the same controls and VR stuff you did in Alyx, against the same…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryFinal Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Is Even More Heartbreaking In French
I do not speak a lick of French, and yet the first thing I did upon (finally) unlocking Heavensward, Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, was switch to French audio. It was a recommendation of a dear friend who’s further into her first journey through FF14 than I am. Neck-deep in Heavensward’s main story quest, (I…
By Ash Parrish Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureFallout 76‘s 2021 Roadmap Shows More Story Content Coming This Summer
Fallout 76 needs some new content, and based on today’s roadmap players will have to wait until the summer to get it. While welcome new gameplay features and continued quality-of-life improvements are planned throughout the rest of the year, new story quests aren’t coming to Fallout 76 until closer to July at the earliest, based…
By Ethan Gach Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsThe Incredible Story Of A Trackmania Shortcut 13 Years In The Making
I know almost mothing about Trackmania, but this video about the quest for a particular shortcut is one of the most fascinating video game clips I have ever seen. Put together byTrackmania YouTuber Wirtual, it goes for 18 minutes. I, too, wondered, “What the hell could make this go for 18 minutes, I’ve got stuff…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Post-Launch Woes Continue
I loved Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. So much so that, had I been given more time with it during the calendar year, it would have made a serious run for my Game Of 2020. But boy, at the same time, I have not been happy with the support the game has got after launch. The game…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureOdds and Ends25 Years Later, Doom II’s Super Shotgun Is Still The Best Video Game Shotgun
Recently, I played through the newer ports of Doom and Doom II. And playing Doom II again, I was reminded of a simple fact: The super shotgun is amazing and is still the best video game shotgun ever made. Doom II’s Xbox One port was one of many Bethesda games that ended up on Game…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 21, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanFinal Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Had A Dedicated Team of Lighting Experts
When Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade was announced earlier this year, Square Enix detailed how it changed the textures and lighting, as well as added fog effects. Some changes were more subtle. During today’s Sony online event, Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase ran through the changes in the PS5 version. Most of the information was…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Bethesda+Microsoft, Winners!
You got Halo in my Fallout! You got Doom in my Forza! Well, this is a giant mess. At least we get more Game Pass games out of it all. And a fun contest! Our winning image this week comes from…. KaputNoob! Yes, we have a back-to-back winner once again folks! Will they be able…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsElites In Halo: Reach Contain A Gross Secret
I’ve played a lot of Halo: Reach. In fact, last month I played through the entire game again with my brother via the Master Chief Collection. But I had no idea that inside the playable Elites in the game lurks a somewhat disgusting little secret: Their innards…? Guts? Bones? Hard to tell. In Halo: Reach,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CultureMorning CheckpointBlack Panther Coming To Avengers, Gotham Knights Delayed, Outriders Launching On Game Pass And More
This week on Morning Checkpoint we celebrate the death of Fortnite’s Peely, learn more about upcoming Square Enix games, see who’s the next big hero coming to Avengers, eat a baby(?) and get a look at the next generation of PSVR controllers. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week I hope this grows into a…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021