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What Made Final Fantasy VII Special

As the new year rolls on, so does Worth Reading, our weekly collection of the best games writing around the web. Here’s what I’ve found. Hey, You Should Read These “The afterimage of Final Fantasy VII” by Christian Nutt A remake of Final Fantasy VII, despite Square Enix’s public reservations about the project over the…

In honor of David Bowie’s passing, Square Enix is giving away Steam keys for Omikron: The Nomad Soul, which he starred in and wrote music for. The offer is “while supplies last” and runs through January 22. US players should use this link, European players should use this link. Both require the code “omikron.” Contact…

Cool New Destiny Strategy: Go AFK

It is time once again for Destiny Trends, presented by well-known Destiny fan-site Kotaku dot com. Out: Strategizing with your teammates to carefully pick apart your opponents one by one as you try to win each hard-fought, grueling match of Trials of Osiris. In: Putting your controller down. (via r/destinythegame) You can reach the author…

Subnautica, the underwater survival game in Early Access, has a new H2.0 update—and it looks pretty damn good!

Pokkén Tournament, the Pokémon fighting game, hits the Wii U on March 18, Nintendo announced. Richard has played the game’s Japanese arcade version, so you can read about his experience here to find out whether you should be looking forward to this one.

Dark Cloud 2 Coming To PS4 Next Week

When Sony announced last month that the PS2 game Dark Cloud would be coming to PlayStation 4, the immediate reaction from most readers was to ask when Dark Cloud 2 is coming. Now we have an answer: January 19. Speaking on Sony’s PlayStation Blog podcast yesterday, the folks on Sony’s communication team announced that the…

That’s One Cool-Looking Aliens Map For Doom

Alien-themed maps and mods fit really well with Doom’s atmosphere. No surprise one of the earliest full conversion mods for the game was an Alien one. Modder Kontra Kommando is making a completely new one from scratch, and it already has some really good-looking sprites and textures. Took me a few days to fully re-color…

Per the latest announcement on the game’s official Twitter, Ubisoft’s The Division will run its closed beta between January 28-31 on Xbox One and January 29-31 on PC and PS4. If you’re interested, head over here to sign up for the waiting list or to use a beta code, if you’ve got one.

Pokémon’s Kanto, Remade In Unreal Engine 4

Pokémon’s Kanto region is a map people like to recreate a lot in various editors because of its familiar layout and popularity. Preston Dunagan used Unreal Engine 4 for his remake. He has been working on it for the past 7 months and made all the models and assets himself. Really amazing for a one-man…

Exploring the Train From Mario Party 8 in Minecraft is Pretty Fun

Allll aboard Shy Guy’s Perplex Express. It’s a bit blockier than usual but there’s plenty of sights to see. This faithful (with a few alterations) Minecraft recreation of the Perplex Express comes courtesy of Nathan_Oneday of WalschaertsBuilds. It’s a scale recreation, under construction since early December. There’s some secrets to find since, as the creator…

Wolfenstein 3D, You Look Different

Castle GAFA 3D is Wolfenstein. Just not as you know it. Built by Jankenpopp and Zombectro (via Free Game Planet & Alpha Beta Gamer), at first glance it looks like the classic Wolfenstein 3D. Only…the game’s food has been replaced with random computing and internet icons. And Hitler’s gone. And there’s…Facebook? And it boots from…

Duke Nukem’s Voice Turned Down Republican Campaign Job

Jon St. John, probably most well-known to you guys as the voice of Duke Nukem, was asked recently “to be the advertising voice of the Republican party’s leading candidate for president.” He said, and I’m paraphrasing, get the hell outta here. St. John wrote on Facebook yesterday: I don’t like to turn down jobs…especially when…

That Dragon, Cancer’s Developers Are OK With Asshole Steam Discussions

That Dragon, Cancer is a powerful story about a tragic moment in the lives of the Green family. Their son, Joel, was diagnosed with cancer at 12 months old. The conversation on the game’s Steam forums has focused on the morality of making a game about that. Interestingly, the developers are letting it happen. Right…

A Very Anime Fan Theory About Undertale’s Undyne

Few games lend themselves to fan theories like Undertale does. I only finished it a few weeks ago, but I’ve already been having fun tracking down and pondering the most popular theories about the game’s world and characters. Undertale spoilers follow! One of Undertale’s most memorable characters is the fearsome warrior Undyne, a eyepatch-wearing fish…

Rainbow Six Siege Finally Cracks Down On Cheaters

Cheaters are the bane of multiplayer games’ existence. Regrettably, however, some games go easier on them than others. For a while, Rainbow Six Siege was one of those games. As part of the recent 1.3 update, Ubisoft improved cheating countermeasures (albeit in a vaguely described way) and, crucially, instituted a no-tolerance anti-cheat policy. As they…

The Unsung Story Kickstarter Is Still Breaking Promises

Two years after launch, Playdek’s Unsung Story remains one of the biggest Kickstarter disappointments to date, a $660,126 disaster that just keeps breaking promises. And now they’ve been MIA for three months. Originally pitched as a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics with the involvement of series creator Yasumi Matsuno, Unsung Story excited strategy fans…

Square Enix has announced the new Hitman game is now episodic, meaning you don’t have to pay $60 upfront—you can pay in chunks. Previously, the game was going to cost $60, but there’d be new content released every so often. The first episode hits March 11.

Someone Spent 10 Months Reverse-Engineering Dark Souls To Destroy Other Players

Though Dark Souls was released in 2011 and Dark Souls 3 is only a few months away, the community hasn’t moved on. Recently, someone created an AI for PvP combat to invade other players and totally wreck them. Meet…The King. Here’s a trailer made by Pokashine Created by Dark Souls fan metal-crow, The King is…

In Defense of Dragon’s Dogma

Dragon’s Dogma didn’t get the kindest review on Kotaku when it came out in 2012 for consoles. With the PC version arriving on Steam tomorrow, it’s an opportunity for me to mount a defense for one of my favorite flawed games of the last few years. Dragon’s Dogma is far from perfect, but damn, I…

Video Games Raised $46 Million On Kickstarter Last Year

Video games took in $46,177,705 on Kickstarter in 2015, according to new stats released today by the crowdfunding company. That’s significantly more than 2014 but not quite as much as Kickstarter made from games in 2013. Close to 25% of that money came solely from Shenmue III and the Castlevania spiritual successor Bloodstained, which raised…