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  • Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2: The Kotaku Review

    Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2: The Kotaku Review

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    Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is a sequel I never expected. The original Space Marine, developed by Relic and released in 2011, was a fun, action-focused shooter, with just enough story and good ideas to keep you around until the credits rolled. A sequel seemed like a long shot, even if I and other players wanted one. Now, in 2024, we have Space Marine 2, which includes a similar, linear campaign as found in the first game, as well as a more robust multiplayer mode that might be the real reason to play this belated sequel.

    How Alan Wake 2 Builds Upon The ‘Remedy-Verse’

    Space Marine 2, like the first, is a third-person sci-fi shooter set in the expansive (and expensive) Warhammer 40K tabletop universe. And like the last game, you play as Titus, an Ultramarine who, since the events of Space Marine, has been charged with heresy, imprisoned for a century (Space Marines live a long time), and eventually released. He was offered the chance to return to his Ultramarine brothers, but instead punished himself for his mistakes in the first game and joined the Deathwatch. Eventually, he’s forced back into the Ultramarines at the start of Space Marine 2. Here he’s put in charge of two new characters as their squad leader and helps the Imperium of Man push back a deadly alien threat known as the Tyrannids. All the while, Titus’ squad is suspicious of his past, his motives, and his tendency to question leadership.

    Saber Interactive / Focus Entertainment

    The main plot of Space Marine 2’s campaign, which will take most players about 10 to 12 hours, is focused on how Titus, his squad, and the Imperium will win the war against the alien invaders and another, worse threat that emerges in the second half of the game. And this aspect of the story is totally serviceable and fine enough. I was curious how things would wrap up and how the heroes would save the day or fail. And if you love Warhammer 40K, there’s probably some neat lore to be found in the campaign, which can be played solo or with two other players.

    But rather than all that high-stakes interstellar conflict, it’s actually the story of Titus and his squadmates slowly starting to trust each other and learn from one another that’s the more compelling narrative hook of Space Marine 2. The end of the game, which I won’t spoil, definitely left me wanting more adventures with Titus and his squad and hopefully, we’ll get to play those adventures in the future.

    Difficulty problems and awesome guns

    Between the cutscenes and dialogue is a whole lot of combat and action, which is Space Marine 2’s meat and potatoes. And the good news is Space Marine 2 is a joy to play. Like the original game and unlike most modern shooters, Space Marine 2 rewards players for being aggressive.

    If an enemy damages you, the easiest way to recover is to quickly attack enemies to re-up your health. Wait too long, though, and you’ll have to heal using a medpack. Likewise, you have armor that can be replenished by executing aliens who are staggered or by counter-attacking an enemy. This system rewards you for being aggressive and deadly, which means you’ll quickly start acting like a Space Marine. Well, you might.

    My biggest problem with Space Marine 2’s campaign (and the rest of the game) is that some ranged enemies on higher difficulties can become incredibly annoying. These few baddies can single-handedly melt your entire shields away and kill you in a matter of seconds on the game’s Veteran difficulty, which it implies is the best way to play. When I eventually got annoyed by a single, random alien dropping me from halfway across a battlefield, I dropped the difficulty down to normal. And sadly, this sometimes led to fights being too easy.

    It’s frustrating that a few enemy types can disrupt Space Marine 2’s difficulty and super warrior fantasy so much. I hope a future patch either gives you a bit more health on Veteran or nerfs some of the ranged attacks so players can actually feel they are a big, hard-to-kill, and aggressive man-tank. For now, I’d recommend playing on normal or hiding behind walls during large fights to avoid alien snipers.

    Thankfully, as the game progresses, these ranged enemies become easier to manage as new, less annoying enemies replace them in most fights and you gain access to better weapons. And there are a lot of guns to find and use in Space Marine 2, from fully automatic SMG-like bolt guns to slow and heavy-hitting snipers and even plasma guns, too. Each of these guns feels powerful but different, and offers its own advantages and disadvantages. I appreciated that while playing the campaign, I never felt like Space Marine 2 was forcing me to use a specific weapon. (Outside of one intense sequence involving flamethrowers…)

    Oh, and you don’t even have to use guns. Space Marine 2 includes a basic but functional melee combat system that lets you block, parry, dodge, and strike enemies either one-on-one or while facing a massive group of baddies. In Space Marine 2, any weapon can get the job done if you use it correctly, so you can choose whichever one you want. It really comes down to your preference. Are you more of a chainsword guy or a melter gun dude? All that matters is you help your fellow soldiers kill thousands of aliens.

    So many aliens, so little time

    And yes, there are thousands of aliens to kill. Thousands. Saber Interactive developed Space Marine 2 and is using its Swarm Engine—first seen in World War Z—to power the W40K sequel. And this engine is really, really good at tossing hundreds of enemies at you at the same time.

    Not every single combat encounter in Space Marine 2 is a last stand against thousands of insect-like Tyrannid aliens, but there are plenty of these moments and I didn’t mind at all. Mowing down hundreds of aliens climbing up walls and cliffs with a giant automatic bolt gun never gets old.

    Later on, when the game’s story shifts and introduces a new enemy to deal with, these large crowd moments become a bit less common and are replaced with more standard third-person shooting action against tanky soldiers. It’s a shame that what might be the most unique quality of Space Marine 2, its massive crowds of deadly aliens, is partially left behind in the second half of the campaign and replaced with more generic shooter combat. Thankfully, the alien crowds made up of hundreds of individual Terrannids trying to rip your face off are a big part of the game’s Operations mode.

    The real reason to play Space Marine 2

    When I wrapped the main campaign of Space Marine 2 I found myself disappointed by how little progression there was as I completed missions. You can choose which weapons you start the next level with, but that’s it. No skills trees, no upgrades, and no perks. None of that. Don’t worry, though, because all of that stuff and more is in Operations, which is basically a separate game attached to Space Marine 2. In fact, I’d argue the best part of Space Marine 2 is not its heavily advertised campaign but instead this great multiplayer mode.

    The Operations mode is connected to the main story of Space Marine 2, letting you see how some missions were completed while Titus and his squad were off doing something else. And like the campaign, Operations is an action-packed third-person shooter built around completely linear levels, which you play either alone or with two other players.

    However, in Operations, you pick a class of Space Marine—each with their own unique abilities—and create loadouts that you can swap between at certain points in missions. These loadouts are made up of weapons that you can upgrade over time, making them deal more damage, fire faster, or hold more ammo. Eventually, you can even unlock weapon variants that look cooler and have their own special stats. Similarly, as you complete missions and earn XP, you level up your Space Marine and get access to new skills and perks via a skill tree as well as the ability to fully customize your soldier.

    Screenshot: Saber Interactive

    If you are someone who loves painting actual Warhammer 40K figurines, then the customization options in Space Marine 2 are going to make you drool and you’ll likely grind away in the various missions just to earn resources to unlock more paint jobs and patterns.

    There’s a lot to Operations and after playing for a few hours I came away impressed. My only concern is that this mode lives or dies based on how much new content is added to it over time. Sure, for now, the eight missions you can play and replay are fun enough, but three months from now will I still want to play the same levels over and over again? Saber Interactive has already promised new missions, weapons, and enemies are coming to Operations over the next 12 months, so hopefully this already content-stuffed mode will only grow more. If that’s the case, it’s likely that a year or two from now I’ll still be playing Space Marine 2’s Ops mode either alone or with random players via matchmaking.

    There’s also a PvP mode in Space Marine 2, which I didn’t get much time with but also didn’t seem like the thing I’d care about in this kind of game. It works and maybe you’ll dig it, but to me the moment everyone is a big Space Marine, the combat stops feeling special and starts playing more like a so-so Gears of War knockoff. I’m far more interested in co-op action and fighting off massive waves of enemies, so I’m more excited for the already-announced horde mode to be added in 2025.

    Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is a surprisingly big game. It features a robust and well-made blockbuster campaign that is only held back by some difficulty balancing issues, a really awesome and in-depth co-op PvE mode that offers a lot of replayability, and a PvP mode that is fine and might be fun for some. The complete package is very enticing and I think that, even with some of its flaws and some minor performance issues on console, Space Marine 2 is probably the best Warhammer 40K game ever made.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Star Wars Outlaws Is A Crappy Masterpiece

    Star Wars Outlaws Is A Crappy Masterpiece

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    I was staring at a wall. It was an early mission in Ubisoft’s latest behemothic RPG, Star Wars Outlaws, in which I was charged with infiltrating an Empire base to recover some information from a computer, and this wall really caught my attention.

    Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku

    It was a perfect wall. It absolutely captured that late-70s sci-fi aesthetic of dark gray cladding broken up by utilitarian-gray panels covered in dull blinking lights, and I stopped to think about how much work must have gone into that wall. Looking elsewhere on the screen, I was then overwhelmed. This wall was the most bland thing in a vast hanger, where TIE Fighters hung from the ceiling, Stormtroopers wandered in groups below, and even the little white sign with the yellow arrow looked like it was a decade old, meticulously crafted to fit into this universe. I felt sheer astonishment at the achievement of this. Ubisoft, via multiple studios across the whole world, and the work of thousands of deeply talented people, had built this impossibly perfect area for one momentary scene that I was intended to run straight past.

    Except I ran past it three times, because the AI kept fucking up and I was restarted at a checkpoint right before that gray wall over and over.

    Kay stands in front of a planet-set, with rocky mountains against the orange sky.

    Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku

    I’m struggling to capture the dissonance of this moment. This sense of absolute awe, almost unbelieving admiration that it’s even possible to build games at this scale and at this detail, slapped hard around the face by the bewilderingly bad decisions that take place within it all.

    To be excited about a beautifully crafted wall is to set yourself up for an aneurysm when you start to notice the tiny, inflecting details on characters’ faces, or the scrupulous idle animations of a bored guard. Then as I tried to conceive that this same level of care was taking place across thousands of locations in multiple cities over a handful of planets, my genuine thought was: “It’s ridiculous that we mark these games on the same criteria as others.” How can someone look at this, this majesty, and say, “Hmmm, seven out of ten?” And then a guard sees me through a solid hillside and ruins fifteen minutes of painstaking stealth, and I wonder how it can be on sale at all.

    In 2024, we have reached the most deeply peculiar place, where AAA games are feats that humanity would once have recognized as literal wonders, and yet play with the same irritating issues and tedious repetition as we saw in the 90s. This contrast, this dissonance, is absolutely fascinating.

    Flying toward a wreck in space.

    Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku

    Ubisoft strikes me as the leader in this bizarre space. I have, for years, been delighted and bemused by what that company is capable of creating, albeit often not in positive ways. The Assassin’s Creed series routinely builds entire cities, even countries, in authentic detail, to the point where we almost take it for granted. It has always struck me as the most horrendous waste that a game like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey can recreate ancient Greece in such wonderful detail, and then gets thrown away, that entire digital space never used again for anything else. It could be given to the world, offered as a setting for a thousand indie games, reused and recycled as such an achievement deserves. Instead, it’s there for that single game, where we reasonably kvetch about the frustrating details of a broken quest, or at how crowd AI bugs out at crucial moments.

    And this is only to touch on the art and architecture. We’re not even mentioning the fantastic writing, the exquisite voice acting, the sound effects, the musical score, the lighting, the concept art that makes such designs possible, and the direction and leadership that can bring all these disparate parts together. All as a backdrop to my repeating the run across the gantry because a distant AI decided to be triggered by a Nix it couldn’t possibly see, or because that time when I pressed Square it decided to throw a punch instead of trigger a takedown.

    Kay stares at an industrial complex.

    Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku

    I’m old enough to remember a time when we’d lament that a beautifully drawn point-and-click adventure was no fun to play, and be so disappointed that such lovely artistic skill had been the backdrop for illogical puzzles and bad writing. Imagine the camera shot pulling out from that adventure game and revealing the room it’s in, the house that contains that room, the town that house is in, the city that town forms part of, and the country in which that city exists—that gets you close to the scale at which the same issue plagues us 40 years later.

    Just that opening city in Outlaws, Mirogana, is more than gaming was capable of ten years ago, let alone 40. It, alone, would be enough for an entire game, with plots and missions and characters. And it’s a blip in this game’s mindblowing breadth. I cannot over-express the scale of what’s offered here, and how incongruous it feels that it can all feel so easily dismissed given such fundamental errors. Errors that mean the game attracts headlines like, “Star Wars Outlaws Is Too Simplistic For Its Own Good.” And I get it! I know what the article means! It’s right that its stealth is banal and badly implemented, and yet such a core element of the game. But God damn, why are we able to reasonably call this creation “simplistic”?

    I’ve no idea what the solution can possibly be, but I feel it sits somewhere in a new order of priority. One that involves scaling back the ambition of everything that a large-scale developer knows it can achieve, and re-focuses resources on fixing the absolute basics that it so often cannot. Because the tragedy of a piece of art like Outlaws—or any number of other architectural masterpieces that we see come and go in this industry every month—being able to be sniffed at with a (deserved) 7/10, is too awful.

    Read More: Star Wars Outlaws: The Kotaku Review

    At Gamescom this year, I saw a talk (currently embargoed) about how wind will cause a game’s world to behave differently, and on one level it was incredible stuff, a technological marvel. But on another, it’s going to offer absolutely nothing if that game’s basic loops are dreary, or if the enemy AI is going to endlessly run into beautifully rendered walls. It could end up being a 7/10 game with technologically astounding wind.

    And so I come back to that wall. And I thank everyone involved in making it so special, the artists who spent so long ensuring it felt authentic, and the level designers who placed it, and the people responsible for collision detection who ensured I couldn’t walk through it, and the people who coded the Snowdrop engine so it could exist at all, and the producers who encouraged the developers who implemented it, and every single person who was in some way responsible for making me that wall to momentarily stare at. And I wish I hadn’t had to sneak past it quite so many times.

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    John Walker

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  • Grand Theft Auto Comes To Life In Punk Singer’s Alleged Crime Spree And High-Speed Chase

    Grand Theft Auto Comes To Life In Punk Singer’s Alleged Crime Spree And High-Speed Chase

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    Sometimes we come across news that makes it seem is if there are real life “Grand Theft Auto” characters walking among us. Take the lead singer of an LA punk band who made his way to the other wise peaceful region of Yosemite National Park and allegedly spent the day tearing shit up in a very un-punk way.

    Clean A Demon’s Sex Toys In This Punk Slice-Of-Life Game

    The LA Times reports that Anthony Mehlhaff — lead singer of a punk band called Cancer Christ — may have turned into a real life Trevor from GTA V on August 21. According to local authorities, Mehlhaff began his Yosemite visit by harassing a pregnant waitress at a restaurant. It only got wilder from there, according to the Times:

    The front man for a hardcore Los Angeles punk band named Cancer Christ faces a slate of criminal charges after allegedly going on a “terrorizing trek” through Yosemite National Park and surrounding areas Wednesday, according to local law enforcement.

    Anthony Mehlhaff, 40, allegedly assaulted a restaurant employee, led park rangers on a car chase, crashed the car, stole a bicycle and then threatened workers at another lodge with a knife, according to Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese.

    Then, Mehlhaff allegedly stripped to his underwear, attempted to kidnap a store manager, stole that manager’s car and started ramming it into another vehicle on a local road, crashed again and was taken into custody before assaulting deputies during an assessment at a local hospital, Briese wrote in a statement about the incident.

    “This man drove all around our county terrorizing our visitors and community members,” Briese said. “I am extremely happy that no one was seriously injured. This man’s behavior was erratic and dangerous.”

    Mariposa County Sheriffs arrested Mehlhaff and charged him with everything from vehicle theft and robbery to kidnapping. He’s being held on $100,000 bail. According to the Times, in social media posts Mehlhaff refers to himself as “Saint Anthony” while he and his band seem to think of themselves as a religion and their fans, “congregants.” This description of the band’s music from its own website honestly explains a lot:

    “Spreading the gospel through their unique brand of Reptilian Power Violence, Saint Anthony and The Snake People have been sent down from Heaven on a holy mission to make all politicians, pedophiles, and police officers suffer slowly,” the band’s website read.

    While that is all well and good, real punk rockers rage against the system. They don’t terrorize innocent people just going about their days. Seems Mehlhaff has a lot to learn.

    This story originally appeared on Jalopnik, our sister site, on Monday, August 26.

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    Lawrence Hodge

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  • James Gunn Says ‘No Truth’ To Recent Batman Game Rumor

    James Gunn Says ‘No Truth’ To Recent Batman Game Rumor

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    Image: Warner Bros.

    Reports of a game set in the universe of Matt Reeves’ The Batman are, apparently, greatly exaggerated. The internet was swirling with rumors of such a game’s existence on the morning of August 30, with many hoping that such a project was real. However, none other than James Gunn, the head of DC films, weighed in to set the record state.

    Tears Of The Kingdom’s Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism

    The rumors stem from an article on news site Puck discussing the state of Warner Bros. and the outlook of its CEO, David Zaslav, on selling assets. The article states that former Warner Bros. parent company AT&T decided against selling the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment division responsible for games because it was “too valuable to unload.” The article goes on to claim that, in addition to the upcoming Penguin HBO show, there is a game in development “rooted in the 2022 The Batman movie.” This one line made fans theorize on what this could be, and if the game itself would be more closely tied to the movie or the Colin Farrell series. If true, this would be the first Batman game set in the Reeves’ universe. However, it seems the game does not actually exist.

    On social media site Threads, a user directly asked James Gunn if there was any accuracy to the rumors. Gunn succinctly shut them down by saying, “Sadly there is no truth to this whatsoever.” For hopeful fans, though, the use of “sadly” may suggest that he does hope a project like this will exist at some point. Batman fans are long overdue for another great game starring the caped crusader. 2025 will mark the tenth anniversary of Batman: Arkham Knight’s release, which is arguably the last good Batman game Warner Bros. has released. If you are really craving another Batman game, however, the VR title Batman: Arkham Shadow is set to release this fall, and it actually looks kind of good! Still, hope springs eternal for another amazing AAA Batman game.

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    Willa Rowe

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  • Amazon Prime Is Offering Three Iconic Lord Of The Rings Games For Free

    Amazon Prime Is Offering Three Iconic Lord Of The Rings Games For Free

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    Graphic: Kotaku / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

    Who doesn’t love free video games? It’s the best way to expand your backlog of titles you’ll never touch – at least not until you retire, which is what you keep telling yourself to assuage the guilt. To help feed this cycle, Amazon Prime is giving subscribers three fan-favorite The Lord of the Rings games as part of its latest promotion for The Rings of Power, which airs on August 29.

    Baldur’s Gate 3’s Karlach Actor On Playing The Beloved Barbarian

    The television series is fantastic and all, but how about those games? They include:

    • Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
    • Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (Amazon Luna)
    • Lego The Lord of the Rings (GOG)

    If you’re a Prime subscriber, you can claim all three games from now until September 30. If you wait too long, the promotion will disappear and other titles will take their place as part of Amazon’s rotating free game offerings.

    All three The Lord of the Rings titles provide enough gameplay to keep even the most voracious players satisfied, with the Middle-Earth games both requiring between 30-60 hours for completionists who want to see and do everything each has to offer. As for Lego The Lord of the Rings, it’s a bit more niche, with a kid-like aesthetic that’s sure to turn some people away. But that’d be a mistake! It’s easily one of the better renditions of Lego gaming, retelling the story of the Fellowship from start to finish, including the Balrog, the Battle of Helm’s Deep, and the ever-fearsome Cirith Ungol!

    Suppose you’re not into The Lord of the Rings. In that case, Amazon Prime has a diverse range of other free games to offer, including Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Grime: Definitive Edition, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Loop Hero, Hard West 2, Beholder 3, Midnight Fight Express, Forager, SteamWorld Heist, Trek to Yomi, Maneater, and countless others. Honestly, the list goes on, with something for everyone!

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    Brandon Morgan

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  • Report: Activision Canceled A Crash Bandicoot / Spyro Crossover Game

    Report: Activision Canceled A Crash Bandicoot / Spyro Crossover Game

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    Image: Activision / Liam Robertson / Did You Know Gaming

    A new report claims that Crash Bandicoot 5 was greenlit by Activision, but was then canceled very early in development due to Crash 4 selling poorly and the publisher wanting to focus more on live-service titles, like Call of Duty: Warzone. Interestingly, this game would have seen the wumpa-fruit-loving marsupial cross over with another platforming mascot, Spyro the Dragon.

    Kotaku’s Hopes For Spyro The Dragon’s (Reported) Comeback

    According to a new report from gaming journalist and historian Liam Robertson, formerly Activision-owned studio Toys For Bob began working on a multiplayer Crash Bandicoot game after it had wrapped on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. But then the company took some of that work and began developing 2020’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. That game was well-liked by fans and critics, and Toys For Bob began planning a follow-up.

    This new game, known internally as Crash Bandicoot 5, was planned to be a direct sequel to Crash 4 and would be a single-player 3D platformer, like previous entries in the long-running franchise.

    Did You Know Gaming / Liam Robertson

    Robertson’s video includes concept art and possible story ideas for this never-finished Crash sequel. At one point, the developers were planning to include Spyro in the sequel, with the report claiming that the two would have worked together to save their respective universes from a giant cataclysmic event. Both characters would be playable, and players would even see both characters’ universes in this multiverse pitch.

    Kotaku has reached out to Activision about the report.

    According to the report, Toys For Bob only worked on Crash 5 for around three to four months and largely focused on concept art and early environments. In the winter of 2020, Activision canceled Crash 5, reportedly due to Crash 4‘s low sales and the publisher wanting to focus on online games over single-player titles. Toys for Bob then worked on Crash Team Rumble, a short-lived and not very popular online game that you probably forgot even launched.

    Thankfully, Toys for Bob was able to survive all this. In February, the company announced that it was going independent and would work alongside Activision-owner Microsoft on a new project. It’s now rumored that Toys For Bob is working on a new Spyro game.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • 14 Things We Noticed In Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat Showcase

    14 Things We Noticed In Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat Showcase

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    A lot of The Veilguard’s systems seem to draw heavily from Mass Effect, and that includes a spin on Andromeda’s ability loadouts. Since you can’t access all your abilities on a wheel like you used to, The Veilguard has you decide on what attacks you’ll have at your disposal on a given quest and assign them. The showcase had a warrior version of protagonist Rook kitted out with a “This Is Sparta”-style kick, a grappling spear used to draw enemies in close, and a shield-like aura to protect her from damage. They definitely seem to be going for a tanky, brawler build, and picking the abilities best for whatever approach you’re going for will be key to defining your playstyle.

    Also in the loadout is an Ultimate ability called Warden’s Fire, which rains down an area-of-effect attack on enemies. It sounds like this might be exclusive to Grey Warden Rooks, one of the origins you can select for your hero in the character creator at the beginning of the game.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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  • Where To Find Shadow Of The Erdtree’s Ailment Talisman

    Where To Find Shadow Of The Erdtree’s Ailment Talisman

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    The Ailment Talisman is a Talisman added in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This helpful little accessory can be a real lifesaver in areas where you’re likely to become infected with deadly status effects, such as poison, scarlet rot, frostbite, and so forth.

    The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History

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    Billy Givens

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  • An Inside Peek At Indiana Jones’ Gameplay Looks Whip-Crackingly, Fist-Punchingly Fun

    An Inside Peek At Indiana Jones’ Gameplay Looks Whip-Crackingly, Fist-Punchingly Fun

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    There’s a fairly good chance that you, like us, keep forgetting that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a first-person game. Each time we see any footage, it’s a jarring moment to remember that this isn’t a reskinned Tomb Raider or Uncharted, but instead puts us directly inside Dr. Jones’ head. This is exacerbated by so much of the stuff we’ve seen in trailers constantly jumping to cinematic third-person views, given how odd of an angle it is when trying to show off the game. But now we’ve seen ten minutes of in-game footage, and it’s starting to make more sense.

    The Top 10 Most-Played Games On Steam Deck: October 2023 Edition

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    John Walker

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  • You Can Play The OG Diablo In Your Browser For Free Right Now

    You Can Play The OG Diablo In Your Browser For Free Right Now

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    Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

    It’s now possible to quickly and easily play the original 1997 Diablo on your PC or phone via a simple website. Just load it up on your browser and you can start killing demons and skeletons like it’s the ‘90s all over again.

    Diablo IV – Bear Bender Build

    The original Diablo was developed by Blizzard North and released in January 1997 for PC. Its single dungeon, evil monsters, creepy town, and loot-filled catacombs forever changed the action RPG genre. Today, the OG Diablo might seem a bit small and simple compared to the wild open-world adventure we find in 2023’s Diablo 4. But Diablo’s vibes are still unmatched by any of its sequels, and now you can experience the classic ARPG for free on your phone or PC browser.

    As spotted by PC Gamer, a new website has popped up that lets you play the shareware version of the original Diablo in your browser. This new web-based port of the game was built using Diablo’s original source code, which was previously reconstructed by GalaXyHaXz and the Devilution team and can be found on GitHub.

    Blizzard / Izie

    Now, keep in mind that unless you own Diablo and upload the “DIABDAT.MPQ” file, you won’t have access to everything found in the retail release. Still, the shareware version of Diablo lets you play as a warrior who can’t talk to NPCs, but can kill demons and loot weapons in the dungeon under the church in Tristram.

    In my testing, this browser-based port of Diablo plays really well. I had no issues exploring the dark corridors and killing zombies and skeletons. Just toss your old Diablo save and DIABDAT.MPQ file onto a service like Google Drive or a USB stick and you can play Blizzard’s seminal ARPG anywhere with an internet connection.

    In fact, you could be playing Diablo right now on the device you are currently using instead of working or reading the last sentence of this blog.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Alien: Romulus: The Kotaku Review

    Alien: Romulus: The Kotaku Review

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    Good or bad taste is difficult to define, but easy to point out, and Alien: Romulus, from Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez (who famously delivered a fantastic Evil Dead flick over a decade ago), offers a bizarre mix of both. It’s clear that Álvarez wants to hearken back to the analog, tactile sci-fi vibes of the original Alien flicks, with plenty of satisfyingly twisty knobs and low-fi computer screens that will delight any old-school fan. And with a great, young cast that includes Civil War’s Cailee Spaeny and The Last of Us’ Isabela Merced, Romulus feels like it’s courting both the original Alien lovers and a younger, fresher group of potential fans. And it’s fast, too—the two-hour run-time flies by without any filler, and a perfectly paced build-up results in a third act that will have your heart pumping almost the entire time.

    But the massive weak point in Romulus’ hull is its reliance on winks, nods, and nostalgia—including one poor-taste cameo that made me cringe every time the character was on-screen. Though I think any casual Alien fan will enjoy the film and miss many of the Easter eggs, there are some egregious references throughout that had my eyes rolling around in my head. Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

    Alien: Romulus looks damn good

    Álvarez reportedly told the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con crowd that seeing Romulus didn’t require prior knowledge of other Alien films, and that “member berries cannot be the full meal” (a reference to a South Park joke about nostalgia), but I’m not so sure that’s true. From the moment Romulus opens, there are references aplenty—the opening shot shows the wreckage of the Nostromo, the ship from the first film, floating in the empty vacuum of space, for Engineer’s sake.

    Though after that, Álvarez swiftly (and smartly) turns the attention to Alien: Romulus’ cast of young adults, who live and work in a dreary, depressing mining colony called Jackson’s Star where it’s always raining and everyone is always sick. Rain Carradine (Spaeny) and her “brother” Andy (David Jonsson), a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic reprogrammed by Rain’s late father to protect her at all costs, live a life of indentured servitude—Rain is forced to work in the hopes that she’ll earn enough hours to leave Jackson’s Star and head to Yvaga II, a terraformed planet that’s less miserable.

    After a Weyland-Yutani employee denies Rain’s request to go off-planet, she jumps at the chance to change her fate: A ragtag bunch of teenagers (and her friends) discover a “Weyu” ship drifting in the planet’s atmosphere, and they want to fly up and steal its crypods so they can venture out to Yvaga themselves. The problem? They need Andy, who can access all of the ship’s systems, even though his strange gait and stammer indicate that he isn’t in perfect working condition.

    The alien sneers.

    Image: 20th Century Studios

    Andy and Rain’s relationship is the beating heart of Romulus, played to perfection by Spaeny and Jonsson—from the moment his big, sad eyes appear on screen, I know Andy is going to break my heart. Andy’s affinity for puns, which he struggles to get out due to his stammer, endears you to him within moments, and Rain’s good-natured annoyance at his bad jokes further defines their lovely relationship. Romulus tries to fill out the rest of its character tropes like previous Alien films, with a crass and rude British guy, his grim, no-nonsense partner, a kind-hearted heartthrob, and a sweet (and newly pregnant) best friend, and the young actors all play them well, even if their characters aren’t fully fleshed out. But Rain and Andy? I’d die for them.

    Visually, Romulus is as close to perfect as a sci-fi horror flick can get. When the shuttle carrying the teens up to the derelict Weyu ship (which is actually a decommissioned outpost, and, as you might suspect, full of facehuggers) soars upward into the planet’s upper atmosphere, the visual effects dazzle: rain pelts the hull, lightning flashes all around it, and strange, red-orange veins of light run through the clouds. When it bursts through the cloud cover, Rain sees the planet’s sun for the first time ever, and I feel a similar stirring of awe in my gut.

    Romulus truly is beautiful, from the cinematography to the set design to the way the iconic xenomorphs look. Álvarez impressively and effectively plays with color, light, and texture (wispy gray smoke, white-hot steam, tar-black blood), and the pitch-perfect mix of practical and digital effects blends iconic Alien iconography with impressive, modern tech. And then there’s the digitally recreated elephant in the room.

    Romulus and references

    As I mentioned, there are a lot of Easter eggs in Alien: Romulus. The decommissioned outpost (split into two massive sections called Remus and Romulus) is powered by a computer called MU/TH/UR 9000, a newer version of the one running the Nostromo in 1979’s Alien. When one of the motley crew members bullies and denigrates Andy, he stammers back a quote from Aliens, saying he prefers the term “artificial human” just like Bishop told Ripley back then. The outpost’s door mechanisms are the same ones from 2014 survival horror game Alien: Isolation. Hell, even the original xenomorph, the one Ripley blows out of the Nostromo airlock, haunts Romulus—its corpse is suspended from the ceiling in the derelict ship, its acid blood having burnt through several floors and destroyed the place.

    But the most egregious Easter egg is a rotten one: a digitally recreated Ian Holm, who played a secret synthetic in the original film that was placed on the Nostromo by Weyland-Yutani to help further the company’s attempts to secure humanity’s fate in the stars by any means necessary. The digital avatar of Holm, who passed away in 2020, looks bad and uncanny almost every time it’s on screen, and the fact that the damaged robot (who goes by Rook in Romulus) is just a torso perpetually leaking the synthetic’s iconic white diagnostic fluid makes it even worse. His appearance is so bizarre and unnecessary (and so prevalent, as Rook has a ton of screen time), that it sours so much of what makes Romulus enjoyable.

    Rain wields a proto pulse rifle.

    Image: 20th Century Studios

    From the moment Rook is introduced, I watch the rest of Romulus with my eyes narrowed suspiciously, waiting for another Easter egg to (perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not) puncture the fourth wall and boop me on the nose with a “see what I did there?” Thankfully, the cast’s incredible acting and the film’s perfectly paced action effectively distract me from my fear of another reference lurking down a dark corridor. There are several truly gruesome scenes—acid burning off fingers, a facehugger artificially pumping someone’s lungs while attached to them, the gnarly cracking of ribs and spines, and a few brand-new takes on the iconic chest bursting scene—that will delight body horror fans. And all of this action is propelled forward by Spaeny and Jonsson, the latter of whom does such an impressive 180 with his character that it leaves me speechless. Romulus also adds a bit more lore to the franchise, specifically around a certain stage in the xenomorph’s evolution, that gives Álvarez an excuse to put a giant, wet, undulating vagina in the film, just as H.R. Giger intended.

    But just when I’ve forgotten about the torso of Holm lurking in a dimly lit corner, when I’ve just been delighted by a zero-G action sequence that involves floating, spiraling acid blood Rain and Andy must avoid while suspended in mid-air, when I realize that Álvarez almost perfectly times the outpost’s countdown timer until it will collide with the planet’s icy ring to the runtime of the film, Romulus comes back around to the references. The proto pulse rifles from Aliens, Rook spouting an exact quote Holm uttered in Alien, Spaeny in her cryo-undies wielding a gun just like Ripley, Andy stammering “get away from her you bitch,” a human/xeno hybrid that makes your skin crawl, a face-to-face moment just like the meme.

    Thankfully, Romulus ends strong, with an emotionally powerful, deliciously disgusting final scene with a jump-scare that almost made me pee myself. I just wish that it had the confidence to stand on its own a bit more, rather than deliver nods and recycled lines on a silver platter with a wry smile. Though, whether you’re a fan of the franchise or not, I believe Alien: Romulus is worth a watch—maybe some fans will adore the references, and those who know nothing about Ridley Scott’s legendary sci-fi universe can remain blissfully unaware and just enjoy a well-paced, well-shot, well-acted romp. It’s a win-win in that regard.

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    Alyssa Mercante

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  • Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 5 New And Old Games We Can’t Wait To Play

    Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 5 New And Old Games We Can’t Wait To Play

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    The Crimson Diamond is AVAILABLE NOW!! (Launch trailer)

    Play it on: Steam
    Current goal: Solve an old-fashioned mystery

    A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I was captivated by Unavowed, a point-and-click adventure from the folks at Wadjet Eye. Well, I’ve finished that one (it was great) just in time for a brand-new entry in the genre to come along. And while Wadjet Eye’s output is most reminiscent of ‘90s adventure games that offered full voice acting and elegant drag-and-drop interfaces, this new game, The Crimson Diamond from designer Julia Minamata, is influenced by an earlier era of adventures, ones that ran in EGA and had you typing in what you wanted your character to do. I can’t wait to explore its mysteries.

    The Crimson Diamond is perhaps most reminiscent of Sierra adventures, especially the Clara Bow games which saw their plucky heroine tossed into murder mysteries during the roaring ‘20s. It casts you as Nancy Maple, a young woman investigating the discovery of an unusually large and valuable diamond in a town in northern Ontario, Canada. It’s clear from the trailer that her investigations will find her encountering people with motives of their own, some of them sinister, and land her in no small amount of peril. Sign me up!

    People often talk about the evolution of adventure games from text parsers to purely graphical interfaces as a net good, as if text parsers were just a crutch, a relic from the genre’s early days that we no longer needed, but I’ve always thought of them as two fundamentally different approaches, each with their own strengths. I think there are ways in which the presence of a text parser can encourage creative thinking that a purely graphics-based interface doesn’t always allow for, and in addition to digging into the plot of The Crimson Diamond, I’m eager to see how it uses this design element that so rarely gets employed in modern games. All in all, it sounds like a perfect fit for a cozy weekend. —Carolyn Petit

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    Austin Williams, Carolyn Petit, Moises Taveras, Kenneth Shepard, and Ethan Gach

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  • Valve Cracking Down On Joke Reviews Flooding Steam

    Valve Cracking Down On Joke Reviews Flooding Steam

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    Today, in a new update, Valve is changing how it sorts and displays user reviews on Steam in an attempt by the company to hide all the joke reviews and memes that are flooding the digital storefront.

    The Top Ten Most Played Games On Steam Deck: March 2023 Edition

    For over a decade now, players have been able to leave text reviews for games on Steam. These reviews could be long or short, positive or negative, and are intended to help people decide if they want to invest time and money in a given game. However, in recent years Steam store pages have become flooded by joke reviews that are basically useless. Now, Valve has had enough and is making some changes that might lead to fewer joke and meme reviews.

    On August 14, Valve published a news blog about its plans to update Steam reviews in an effort to make them more helpful. Valve says the “primary goal” of Steam reviews is to “help potential players make informed decisions” about games they might want to buy. But the current system, where players vote on which reviews are “helpful,” isn’t working. So Valve is going to start identifying “unhelpful” reviews and make them harder to see.

    According to Valve, “one-word reviews, reviews comprised of ASCII art, or reviews that are primarily playful memes and in-jokes” will now be considered unhelpful and will be “sorted behind other reviews on the game’s store page.”

    How is Valve identifying unhelpful, joke reviews?

    Valve clarifies that players might still see “humorous, but unhelpful” reviews, but the goal is that they show up far less often when people are just trying to learn more about a game. The company says there will be an option you can toggle on for those who like these silly reviews and still want to see them.

    Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku

    So how will Valve identify unhelpful reviews? The company says reviews will be marked unhelpful using Steam moderators, user reports, and some “machine learning algorithms.”

    “Our team has found that a lot of the unhelpful reviews were easy to spot,” said Valve. “So we’re targeting those first. This is a work in process, and will likely take quite a while for our team to evaluate the existing reviews and newly posted reviews.”

    You might be wondering, why even leave these unhelpful reviews up? Valve says that it’s found that “many players want to express an opinion about the game” but they don’t always have the right words to do so. So it says these sillier reviews are still “valuable data,” even if they aren’t traditional reviews.

    There you go. You can still do your silly reviews, but now people won’t have to scroll through 200 of them making the same joke just to see if the game is good or not. This seems like a smart change and one which has long been overdue.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Valve’s Yet-To-Be-Announced Multiplayer Game Already Has Thousands Of Players On Steam

    Valve’s Yet-To-Be-Announced Multiplayer Game Already Has Thousands Of Players On Steam

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    Officially, Valve—the company behind Steam, Half-Life, and more—has yet to announce its next big game. However, thousands of people are currently playing and posting about Deadlock, Valve’s next big game, literally right now. So uh, what’s going on?

    The Top 10 Most-Played Games On Steam Deck: June 2023 Edition

    Thanks to leakers and dataminers, we’ve known about a Valve-developed multiplayer game for a few years now. Before it was Deadlock, it was likely codenamed Neon Prime. At one point since it reportedly started development in 2018, the MOBA/character shooter hybrid was possibly going to be set in the Half-Life/Portal universe, but that has seemingly changed based on gameplay leaks that occurred in May. Now, it seems a rumored playtest for Deadlock is currently underway, with the game developing a community of players on Reddit.

    As spotted by IGN, over on SteamDB—a third-party website that tracks various stats about Steam games and players—Deadlock’s player count has been steadily increasing over the last few months. In the last few days, the game cracked 18,000 concurrent players. That means it’s one of the top 65 most played games on Steam, and Valve has yet to even tweet about it or release a trailer.

    IGN reports that Deadlock’s current early access period is using an invite system, letting players on Steam grant access to other players. It’s understood that Valve is allowing players with early access to talk about the game online with other players, but videos and screenshots still seem to be under a strict NDA. Many are posting about the game and how much they like it on the Deadlockthegame subreddit.

    That means we are in a really weird and somewhat unprecedented situation. A new Valve video game is gaining thousands of players on Steam, it’s got an active subreddit, and we’ve even seen videos of the game in action. Deadlock is real. It’s a thing. It’s Valve’s next game. Yet, officially, Valve has yet to announce it or even tease it.

    Many players assume that a full-on reveal for Deadlock and an open-access beta are coming sooner rather than later, with many suggesting September. But for now, we have to wait and see when Valve will decide to announce a game that thousands of people are playing and which already has guides and tier rankings. Strange times. Meanwhile, Valve might be working on Half-Life 3 based on some recent leaks. Strange times indeed, folks.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Destiny 2 Pointers, How To Nab Fallout 76’s Union Power Armor, And More Of The Week’s Top Tips

    Destiny 2 Pointers, How To Nab Fallout 76’s Union Power Armor, And More Of The Week’s Top Tips

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    Screenshot: The Gentlebros / Kotaku

    Cat Quest III departs from the first two games of this light-hearted action-adventure series in a variety of ways, especially with its pirate-themed naval combat. Still, it also retains a lot of familiar gameplay mechanics and concepts that ensure if you played the previous games, you’ll feel right at home. Whether you’re a returning player well-versed in Cat Quest’s history, or you’re brand new to the franchise, we’ve compiled a solid list of tips to help you get started in this feline-focused adventure. – Billy Givens Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • The Return Of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar Gets Delayed

    The Return Of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar Gets Delayed

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    Image: Paramount Pictures

    Christopher Nolan didn’t release a movie this year, so theaters are bringing back one of his old ones to compensate. Interstellar was set to return to theaters next month but will instead be delayed until December, Variety reports.

    Kotaku’s Hopes For Spyro The Dragon’s (Reported) Comeback

    The 2014 space epic starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain will hit theaters again on December 6 instead of September 27 as originally planned. The revival marks the 10th anniversary of Nolan’s ninth movie and will include 70mm IMAX showings.

    Interstellar tracks astronauts on a mission to find a new habitable planet for Earth’s remaining residents to flee to. It’s a movie about the destruction of the planet and the power of love, and one of Nolan’s more emotional and human projects. It’s the only time he’s worked with McConaughey, and the actor gave one of his best performances in it at the peak of the McConaissance (Dallas Buyer’s Club was a year earlier).

    So why the delay? “The theatrical release date was pushed to align with the home entertainment relaunch,” Variety reports. I have no idea what that really means since Interstellar is already available at home, but the publication says Paramount disputes recent rumors that the shift was due to lost or destroyed copies of the original 70mm reels.

    Instead, Paramount says it has plenty of archived copies of the movie, but that some film reels experience wear and tear from standard use. The company adds that it’s normal for them to become unusable after their original theatrical runs. I guess Paramount just didn’t want to get clobbered by Transformers One at the box office that month.

    Whatever the case, it’ll be worth it to wait a few extra months so fans can once again witness one of the coolest space sequences in film on the big screen. It’ll also be interesting to reappraise one of Nolan’s headiest movies (he co-wrote it with his brother, Jonathan Nolan). A recent viral TikTok popularized an entirely inverted interpretation of the movie that’s full of holes but fun to contemplate on a re-watch.

          

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    Ethan Gach

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  • If You Haven’t Played It Yet, 2023’s Best Game Is On Sale For PS5

    If You Haven’t Played It Yet, 2023’s Best Game Is On Sale For PS5

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    Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

    Baldur’s Gate 3 just celebrated its first trip around the sun this past weekend. Have you, by chance, neglected to play the rightful Game of the Year 2023 (I’m not bitter) thus far? Well, if you have a PlayStation 5 and you’ve been waiting for the right time to jump into it, Larian Studios’ masterclass in RPG design is on sale.

    This Cool New Retro Console Is A Great Gift For Atari Fans

    I tend to buy a lot of games right as they’re coming out so I don’t partake in PlayStation’s Summer Sale that often. But Sony’s cooking with gas this year and there’s still time for you to grab some of the best games on the PS5 for cheap. I’m just trying to scroll through the list right now and keep getting caught up on things I would buy if I didn’t already have them. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the entirety of Hades developer Supergiant Games’ catalog, and plenty of other gems are on sale until August 14. But right at the top of the page is Baldur’s Gate 3, which has dropped from its usual price of $70 to a slightly less intimidating $55.99.

    Larian’s Dungeons & Dragons RPG captured the hearts and minds of many an adventurer last year, and if you waited an entire trip around the sun to play it, now’s a great chance to do so on PlayStation 5. It’s got a few rough edges compared to its PC counterpart, but it’s still pretty damn incredible. Play it as your own custom character and live out your fantasy dream, smooch a bunch of complex heroes who are just trying to survive literal brainworms, and engage in some of the most complex tactical combat you’ll find on a PS5. If you haven’t jumped on it yet and you’ve got a PlayStation, now’s the time to see what all the fuss is about.

    If you’re gonna dive in, be sure to check out some of our early game tips to help get you started.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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  • First Teaser For The Last Of Us Season Two Puts Joel In Therapy

    First Teaser For The Last Of Us Season Two Puts Joel In Therapy

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    Screenshot: HBO / Kotaku

    HBO has released the first footage of the second season of The Last of Us, and it implies that things for Pedro Pascal’s Joel may be a little bit different than they are in the game. No, not that different, but it seems like he might be going to therapy.

    Kotaku’s Hopes For Spyro The Dragon’s (Reported) Comeback

    The brief, 24-second teaser shows a few familiar scenes originating from The Last of Us Part II. These include the dance scene in which Bella Ramsey’s Ellie kisses Dina, flashes of characters like Jeffrey Wright’s Isaac who leads the militaristic Washington Liberation Front, and a few glimpses of the Seraphites, the Seattle cult which also occupies the city. But one character seems to be someone entirely new. This person, played by Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone actor Catherine O’Hara, seems to be Joel’s therapist. She is shown asking if he hurt Ellie, which he denies. Instead, he insists he saved her.

    This seems like a new take on the opening scene of The Last of Us Part II, in which Joel recounts the violent events of the first game’s finale to his brother Tommy. He finishes his story with the same line: “I saved her.” So it seems Joel might be confessing his murder of the Fireflies to someone other than family in the show when it premieres on Max in 2025. The first season played things pretty close to the original, but it did make some big changes to Bill and Frank’s relationship, and added entirely new characters of its own, like Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen.

    Given that HBO plans to cover the events of Part II across multiple seasons of the show, it wouldn’t be surprising if it used all that extra time to riff on more plot points and character threads. The first season put a big focus on Joel’s anxiety, something which the games only hinted at, so the sad dad finally getting professional help seems in line with how the show’s been handling that side of him.

    Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will lead season two, but HBO has announced several new cast members that will play characters from The Last of Us Part II. Most notably, Kaitlyn Dever will play Abby, the co-protagonist of the sequel.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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  • Star Wars Outlaws Preview, Destiny 2’s Future, And More Hot Takes

    Star Wars Outlaws Preview, Destiny 2’s Future, And More Hot Takes

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    Screenshot: Aspyr / Lucasfilm

    In 2002, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter launched on PS2 and GameCube. The third-person action-adventure game let players hop into the bounty-hunting boots of Jango Fett aka Boba Fett’s clone dad from Attack of The Clones. It wasn’t great, but was a fun prequel to Episode II. Now, 20 years later, it’s been remastered, improved, and ported to new consoles, and while it looks and plays better than ever, it’s still mostly the same not-great PS2-era action game, but now with a flashlight. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • Prison Architect 2 Delayed Indefinitely Weeks Before Launch, Pre-Orders Refunded

    Prison Architect 2 Delayed Indefinitely Weeks Before Launch, Pre-Orders Refunded

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    Prison Architect 2, set to launch in September, has been indefinitely delayed, with the studio behind the game also announcing that it will refund customers who pre-ordered the prison building sim. It’s yet another road bump for publisher Paradox Interactive following the cancellation of a Sims-like game in June.

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    Originally released in 2012 on PC, Prison Architect lets players build and maintain large prisons filled with criminals and guards. The original game received updates for years and was even ported to consoles and mobile devices. In 2019, Paradox Interactive purchased the franchise from original developers Introversion Software, and in 2024 announced a full, 3D sequel. However, the game was delayed earlier this year. And now, it’s been delayed again with no new release date.

    On August 2, Paradox and developer Kokku announced that Prison Architect 2 was no longer arriving on September 3. In a post on the official Paradox forums, the devs explained they “need more time to improve both the game’s performance and its content.”

    Paradox Interactive

    The studio and publisher also added that they “can’t commit” to a new release date or window as they are re-assessing the “scope of work needed to be done before the game is release-ready.” It also warned that communication between the team and fans will be limited until they feel more “comfortable” showing the game and talking about a release timeline.

    As a result of this indefinite delay, Paradox Interactive is refunding all pre-orders on all platforms and has pledged to include all previously promised pre-order digital items in the base game.

    In a Q&A included with the announcement, the studio and Paradox stressed that Prison Architect 2 isn’t canceled.

    Paradox’s last few years have been a mess

    This assurance was likely included because not long ago, Paradox delayed and then canceled its Sims-like game Life By You. As a result, some players may be concerned that a similar fate awaits the prison builder sequel.

    It also doesn’t help that Paradox has had a string of failures and misfires over the last year or so. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, first announced in 2019, was nearly canceled after multiple delays and a developer swap in 2023. The Lamplighter’s League was an expensive flop. And Cities: Skylines 2 launched in such a poor state that Paradox was forced to stop all DLC plans so the devs could focus on fixing the city builder.

    Even Prison Architect 2 had some issues before this delay, with the original studio—Double Eleven—leaving the project over a financial disagreement with Paradox, leading to the publisher swapping the team out for Kokku in 2024.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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