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The Brilliant Use of Verticality in Minish Cap’s Palace of Winds

There are so many great, memorable levels in the Zelda series, from Majora Mask’s Stone Tower Temple to the Arbiter’s Grounds in Twilight Princess. But a level that’s always stayed with me from the series is the Palace of Winds from the Minish Cap.  Developed by Capcom and Flagship, The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap…

A Plague Tale Is One Of The Most Disturbing Games I’ve Played

It’s been so long since a game has truly scared me that A Plague Tale: Innocence caught me completely off guard. Tense, terrifying, and meticulously crafted, Plague Tale excels at making you feel utterly helpless. Set in late 1349 in Aquitaine, France, the medieval setting is one of the game’s strengths, distinguishing itself with the…

By The Gods, I Just Want To Hang Out At Charon’s Shop In Hades

Escaping the House of Hades is no easy task. The ever-changing pathways through the Underworld are filled with danger—vicious specters prowl, eager for a kill, and traps are scattered everywhere. The music is a steady, pulsating rhythm to amplify that struggle. It can feel daunting. That’s why, whenever Charon’s shop appears, it’s a welcome respite.…

Collecting Things (And Silly Animals) In Dragon Quest Builders 2 Is Stressful Fun

There has never been a video game checklist that I didn’t simultaneously love and hate. The Explorer’s Shores islands found in Dragon Quest Builders 2 are chock full of them, and I could not resist their siren songs. They led me to mini-adventures that were fun and mildly frustrating, as well as an absurd encounter…

7 Classic Cartoons That Deserve A TV Special

With a wide variety of animated movies and TV series accessible around the clock, it’s easy for viewers to fall into the bottomless pit of nostalgia that is streaming classic cartoons. While Hulu, whose selection includes the likes of Rugrats, Dexter’s Lab, and Dragon Ball, is undoubtedly the current champion of throwback cartoon streaming, they’re…

An Ode To Video Game Pockets

Hi Kotaku! It’s Ben, Narelle, and Peter back as your guest writers for the weekend. We have a variety of articles planned; Narelle will be writing about Breath of the Wild with her sister and some of the fun quests in Dragon Quest Builders 2; Ben shows some love for the Game Boy and Tony…

Five-time Evo champion SonicFox is live on Twitch with a charity drive for The Trevor Project, which focuses on crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth. His goal is $20,000, with various donation incentives—from playing piano to shaving his mustache—spread out along the way.

Dragon Quest XI On Switch Lets You Make NPCs Lie

This week, Nintendo put out a demo for the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI, and it’s got at least a few new features we didn’t know about before. My favorite has to be the toggle that makes townspeople lie. Dragon Quest XI, which came out last year for PS4 and PC and launches on…

Riot says it has reached a settlement with two women who filed a gender discrimination lawsuit late last year. At the time, the women, one current and one former employee, accused Riot of gender-based discrimination and a “men-first” environment that impacted their pay and career advancement. Today, however, Riot sent out a press release announcing…

Black Desert, the pretty online role-playing game with the ridiculous character creator, is now live on the PlayStation 4. As the Xbox One version, it launches with only a handful of character classes, with plans to add new adventuring professions and content at regular intervals. Oh, and Megan Fox is involved for some reason. Woo.

Fortnite Season 10 Is A Bust

There was a lot of player excitement in the run-up to Fortnite’s Season 10, with early hints suggesting the return of old, beloved landmarks like Dusty Depot to the game’s constantly-changing map. When the new season arrived earlier this month, it brought those teased map changes, but it also brought a host of other additions…

Ask Kotaku‘s Staff Anything [UPDATE: Over]

It is Thursday, August 22, 2019, and there sure is a lot going on. Why not take this opportunity to ask Kotaku’s staff anything you’d like? We’ll be here for an hour or two. Questions go below. UPDATE: We’re done! See you all next time.

Just like last week, this week I (Tim Rogers) am teaching Jason Schreier (and you!) Japanese over on our Twitch channel. My teaching method involves forcing him to read every text box out loud. You, too, can do something out loud—in our chat!

Koei Tecmo wants players to submit ideas for which Monster Rancher creatures should be linked up with what music when the game’s remaster gets ported to Switch and smartphones next year. The original game spawned creatures from CDs inserted into the PS1 but the new game will use a different system.

The Guy From The Big Short Is Investing Big In GameStop

Common wisdom in the video game world is that GameStop is on its way out thanks to the rise of digital distribution, but hedge fund operator Michael Burry, who made an unfathomable amount of money by betting against subprime mortgages, is all in. His fund even owns 3 million shares, or about 3% of the…

Track: Vapour Trail | Artist: Ride | Album: Nowhere

In an effort to help Kyoto Animation, the Japanese government is considering tax breaks for donations. The plan is to spark companies and individuals to donate to the arson-ravaged studio. Currently, ideas are still being hammered out and more specifics should be announced at a later date.

Weathering With You is this year’s biggest money-making film in Japan. During the picture’s first 34 days, Makoto Shinkai’s anime raked in over 10 billion yen ($94.59 million). The last Japanese movie to make 10 billion yen was Shinkai’s previous work Your Name. Read Kotaku’s Weathering With You review right here. [Update: An earlier version…

There’s a long lost member of the Ginyu Force and her name is Bonyu. Designed by series creator Akira Toriyama, she’ll be introduced in the upcoming role-playing game Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Bandai Namco announced today. Her backstory will apparently get explored in one of the game’s side-quests.

I Watched Korn Play A Concert In An MMORPG And It Was Surprisingly Great

Adventure Quest 3D is an MMORPG that I didn’t know about until last week when I found out that that the 90s metal band Korn was going to perform a digital concert in the game. Naturally, I downloaded the game, created an account, raced through the tutorial, and got ready to headbang to some beatboxing.…