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Tag: RPG

  • Six Years Ago, The Most Stylish RPG Ever Revived A Dying Genre

    Six Years Ago, The Most Stylish RPG Ever Revived A Dying Genre

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    Now that we’ve entered the final few days of 2023, the year’s bumper crop of new game releases has slowed to a trickle. With long, lazy days looming ahead, it’s a lovely time to cuddle up with one of the biggest, beefiest games in your backlog. And if you’re looking for beef, RPGs are the way to go. On December 15, Atlus announced that Persona 5 crossed a major sales landmark. The modern fantasy RPG and its spinoffs have now sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Nowadays, the Persona series seems like a sure bet. But just a few years ago, itwas a niche fascination for a few devoted weebs. If you haven’t checked it out already, now’s your chance.

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    Back in 2017, when Persona 5 first debuted outside Japan, critics and audiences had largely soured on turn-based role-playing games, waving them off as dated and passé. The previous year, Final Fantasy XV ditched menu-driven gameplay for rapid-fire action combat that was flashier and faster than the venerable Square Enix series had ever been. It seemed like turn-based RPGs were a thing of the past—until Persona 5 set the world on fire.

    Buy Persona 5: Amazon

    The game takes place in modern-day Tokyo, and follows a group of teen vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves. By day, they’re just conspicuously attractive high school students. By night, they summon demonic Pokémon known as Personas to fight crime and corruption in supernatural dungeons known as Palaces. P5’s stylish, anime-inflected presentation stood out in the late PlayStation 4 era, which skewed heavily toward realism. Innovative combo mechanics kept enemy encounters feeling snappy and unique. The game drew sky-high review scores and currently sits at an enviable 93 on Metacritic. Not too bad for a genre past its prime, right?

    Persona 5 Royal – Take Over Trailer – Nintendo Switch

    An expanded and enhanced edition, Persona 5 Royal, was launched worldwide in March 2020. Royal came to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox consoles in October 2022. And like any good video game phenomenon, Persona 5 spawned a heap of crossovers and spinoffs. In addition to a dedicated anime series, the cast appeared in a rhythm game (2018’s Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight), a Switch-exclusive action RPG (2021’s Persona 5 Strikers), and this year’s strategy RPG, Persona 5 Tactica. Oh, and protagonist Joker also joined the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

    Persona 5 isn’t without flaws. Okumura’s palace, which you’ll encounter late in the game, is an absolute chore. And the game’s portrayal of same-sex relationships is about as subtle as a sack of hammers. Oh, and it easily takes more than 100 hours to beat. If you can forgive those shortcomings, it’s an excellent way to wile away the final hours of 2023—whether you play the vanilla version or Royal.

    Persona 5 Royal is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, and is often on sale for $30 or less. (Used copies of vanilla P5 on PlayStation 4 are even cheaper!)

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    Jen Glennon

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  • The Best Video Game Surprises Of 2023

    The Best Video Game Surprises Of 2023

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    Screenshot: Larian Studios

    You’d expect a new Bethesda game would be the biggest RPG of the year, but nope. Instead, it was Baldur’s Gate 3, which officially launched earlier this year to rave reviews. We’ve written a lot about the game already on the site and you should check out those posts, too.

    What I wanted to talk about here is how incredible it was to see a turn-based, PC-focused, Dungeons & Dragons game developed by an independent studio and released via early access explode like the latest Call of Duty or GTA.

    Everyone I knew was playing it. Everyone online was sharing screenshots. Everyone was talking about all the people they were digitally fucking in the game.

    It was wild to watch and a reminder successful games don’t always need flashy years-long marketing campaigns featuring big stars and Super Bowl ads. Instead, sometimes, you can just make a really good game that people want and you’ll sell millions of copies. And maybe end up inspiring a lot of erotic fan fiction.

    Any big 2023 video game surprises we missed? What unexpected developments got you all excited this year?

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Alyssa Mercante’s Top 8 Games Of 2023

    Alyssa Mercante’s Top 8 Games Of 2023

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    You’ve heard it time and time again—2023 was a huge year for game releases, which made the battle for game of the year (GOTY) at sites and award shows across the globe hard-fought and difficult. Baldur’s Gate 3 won at this year’s Game Awards, other publications have handed the crown to Tears of the Kingdom, and Kotaku’s site-wide list may do something completely different. But what about our staff’s personal GOTY lists, the games that delighted us that maybe weren’t all brand-new titles or big-budget blockbusters, but also were fun little mobile games or shooters that got a second life?

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    For me, 2023 was a year of branching out. Despite still plunging hundreds of hours into Overwatch 2 comp, I forced myself to try and get better at The New York Times’ Connections word game, and challenged myself to give turn-based RPGs a go for the first time ever. I dabbled in horror, in humor, in learning some hubris. Some of these games are expected, some may surprise, but they are all my top games of 2023—in no particular order.

    New York Times’ Connections

    Image: New York Times / Kotaku / Vladimir Gjorgiev (Shutterstock)

    A few months ago, the daily New York Times’ Connections puzzle was a consistent hit to my self-esteem. Back then, I constantly wasted my finite chances to arrange the sixteen words into four different buckets based on their linguistic connections, and it irked me to a point where I seriously questioned my own intelligence. Was I, actually, a dumb-dumb? But after a week or so of struggling, I started to make important connections (eh? eh?) in my head, and the daily puzzle became a fun way for me to wake my brain up every morning. Now, I look forward to sending my sister a text featuring beautifully organized, colorful squares, and noting how often we figure out the groups in the same order. It took some time, but I’m proud to say I’m a Connections girly now.

    Overwatch 2

    A collection of Overwatch heroes stand against a colorful collage of some of its maps.

    Image: Vicky Leta / Blizzard

    Despite everything I’ve been through as an open-queuing Overwatch 2 competitive player (who is also a healer main), I could not quit Blizzard’s hero shooter in 2023. Just call me Jack Twist. Blizzard gave us some pretty solid in-game events and collaborations this year, and the new heroes added more spice to the game, which made it easy to consistently return to it again and again and again, even when my rank never made any sense. No matter how much I hate on Overwatch 2 and the powers-that-be at ActiBlizz, it’s still my most-played game of the year by a country mile

    Alan Wake 2

    Saga Anderson stands in the middle of a rain-soaked street.

    Image: Remedy

    Once in a while, a game comes along that is so vibey, so incredibly curated, that it’s apt to call its creator an “auteur.” Sam Lake, Alan Wake 2’s writer and director, gave us a horror game imbued with the anxieties of a creative, dripping with blood from occult rituals, and bathed in the eerie neon glow of an alternate-reality Manhattan. From the opening sequence to the pitch-perfect ending and the surprise musical number in-between, Alan Wake 2 is perfection. It’s a game that will be remembered for decades to come, a beacon of beauty in what can too-often be a sea of sameness. Or more simply, as the kids say, this game fucking whips.

    Halo Infinite

    Opposing squads face off on a Halo Infinite map.

    Image: 343 Industries

    Halo Infinite had massive Spartan boots to fill, and it struggled to do so at launch. But two years later, the FPS has earned its flowers, offering a full-fledged Forge builder, new maps and modes, and consistent upgrades that keep it fresh. Halo Infinite is my go-to “brain off” shooter, a frustration-free FPS that lets me feel, briefly, like I’m in college again. The silly physics, the absurd weapons, the over-the-top announcers—it all offers up a low-stakes, high-fun experience that’s like snacking on a bag of Sour Patch kids (watermelon, of course). Kudos to 343 Industries for providing so much communication and support to a game that we were all so hard on—now I just wish we’d get some more campaign content…

    Diablo IV

    An armored attacker covered in a red glow points their weapon at an enemy.

    Image: Blizzard

    This year was a really big one for me when it came to branching outside of my genre comfort zone, and it started with Diablo IV. I’ve never really played top-down RPGs, but the moment I saw the hellish, moody landscape of Blizzard’s latest game in the franchise, I was hooked. The hack-and-slash combat, the sexy devil lady, the endless quest for better loot, it all scratched an itch I never really knew I had. Sure, I eventually stopped playing as other games released and drew my attention, but the future promise of more content for an already-great game means I will inevitably return to Sanctuary.

    Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

    Miles Morales glows with lightning-based power.

    Image: Insomniac

    No, Spider-Man 2 never wowed me, but it did keep me pleasantly, blissfully entertained for a couple dozen hours. Maybe it’s because I wanted to find every New York City landmark with ease, swinging from Rockefeller Center to Madison Square Garden so fast I’m almost angry at the memory of how many times I’ve schlepped through the city on foot. Maybe it’s because Insomniac has perfected how their Spider-Man world looks and feels, making for a virtually unimpeded gaming experience that goes down like a well-chilled shot of mezcal. Whatever the reason, whenever I needed a break from the highs and lows of first-person-shooting, I turned to Spider-Man 2 for a palate cleanser.

    Viewfinder

    A screenshot of an in-game landscape featuring different art styles.

    Screenshot: Kotaku / Thunderful

    I first tried out Viewfinder at this year’s Summer Game Fest, and I was floored by its beautiful approach to puzzles. As a very impatient person, I often shun puzzle games, as I can’t brute-force my way through them, but the brilliant visual tricks Viewfinder plays were like a balm for my jittery nerves. Its forgiving rewind feature let me fix my mistakes without punishing me for them, which only gave me more runway when it comes to my dwindling patience, as I felt like every fuck up was a gently teachable moment (despite what you may think, I was a pleasure to have in class). Viewfinder is a work of art as much as it’s a game, with each frame feeling like it could be hung on a wall. I adored this game.

    Starfield

    An explorer approaches glowing, floating rings.

    Image: Bethesda

    Starfield isn’t the future of video games. It doesn’t reinvent the Bethesda wheel, nor does it offer something that feels so demonstrably novel that it was worth all the incredible hype it was getting in the years leading to its release. It is, however, a solid-ass game to get lost in for hours at a time, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. In a year where I lost my grandfather and my dog and where the world felt more cruel than usual, I find solace in mindlessly completing silly little side-quests or trudging across distant, barren planets. Starfield allowed me to get lost when I most needed it, to disconnect from the noise of social media or my own grief for a little bit so I could return to both semi-refreshed, ready to take on another day. Like Skyrim, it’ll always be there when I’m looking for a little free serotonin, and that’s worth a place on this list.

    Baldur’s Gate 3

    A Baldur's Gate 3 character frowns while summoning magic in their hand.

    Image: Larian Studios

    It took me a few months to get onto the Baldur’s Gate 3 bandwagon, and it only happened because I was violently sidelined by a winter cold that whooped my ass. But once I booted up Larian Studios’ award-winning RPG, I was immediately lost to it, spending 25 hours’ worth of time scouring Faerûn within just a few days. By now you’ve undoubtedly heard the reasons why BG3 is a once-in-decade kind of game—it has a fantastic cast of characters that rivals Mass Effect’s, it offers incredible immersion that makes combat and traversal a delightful playground, its world envelops you like a hand-woven tapestry pulled from the stone wall of a castle. It’s been years since I’ve felt so wholly taken by a game and its universe, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has done it.

    There you have it, my personal list of the best games of 2023. What do you think?

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    Alyssa Mercante

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  • The Hottest Gaming Takes, From PS5 Pro To The Game Awards

    The Hottest Gaming Takes, From PS5 Pro To The Game Awards

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    Does anyone else feel like the PS5 just came out, not that long ago? Well, there’s already an abundance of chatter about a potential mid-gen Pro version of Sony’s strangely designed console. And we’ve also got a Game Awards rundown for you too.

    The Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark Princes

    These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

    Finally, A Clever Indie RPG For People Who Suck At Undertale

    The protagonist casts a spell that says "Dude" in Leximan.

    I wonder what happens if you cast “canola”?
    Screenshot: Marvelous Europe

    True confession: while I admire and enjoy the heck out of Undertale, the hugely influential 2015 indie RPG that rewards a peaceful approach to conflict, I’ve never actually managed to complete a pacifist run of the game. That’s because I stink at its bullet-hell combat, which demands lightning reflexes and near-perfect memorization throughout its lengthy and brutal boss battles. So you can imagine my delight when I happened upon an adorable RPG that swaps twitchy, rage-quit-inducing challenges for gentle word puzzles. – Jen Glennon Read More

    Kotaku Asks: What Do You Want From A Potential ‘PS5 Pro’?

    Image for article titled The Hottest Gaming Takes, From PS5 Pro To The Game Awards

    Photo: Hopix Art / Kotaku (Shutterstock)

    Rumors about a supercharged PS5 (or “PS5 Pro,” if you will) are floating around the internet once more. Whether there’s merit to these rumors, of course, remains to be seen. There’s little use speculating about specs for a rumored, potentially nonexistent console. So, instead, let’s ask if we would even want such a thing in the first place. – Claire Jackson Read More

    Toss Yourself In Front Of A Moving Car In This Wild Indie Game

    Photo of a street-based game that challenges visitors to avoid being detected by an AI-powered camera.

    This time, I know I’m onto a winning strategy. I’ve gathered three parking cones, and set about plopping one atop my head and the others on the ends of my arms, Mega Man buster cannon-style. I ask my friend nearby to punch the start button for me. Squishing my legs together as one, like I’m hopping on a tiny pogo stick, I bounce through the (fake) crosswalk, my silhouette on the large screen most closely resembling an 8-bit cactus. – Jen Glennon Read More

    A Beautiful Indie Game Makes Climbing Feel Sublime

    A Beautiful Indie Game Makes Climbing Feel Sublime

    Breath of the Wild and Assassin’s Creed could learn something from Jusant

    The Best Reveals From The Game Awards 2023

    The Best Reveals From The Game Awards 2023

    The industry’s big night delivered a slew of announcements and more than a few surprises

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • Finally, A Clever Indie RPG For People Who Suck At Undertale

    Finally, A Clever Indie RPG For People Who Suck At Undertale

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    True confession: while I admire and enjoy the heck out of Undertale, the hugely influential 2015 indie RPG that rewards a peaceful approach to conflict, I’ve never actually managed to complete a pacifist run of the game. That’s because I stink at its bullet-hell combat, which demands lightning reflexes and near-perfect memorization throughout its lengthy and brutal boss battles. So you can imagine my delight when I happened upon an adorable RPG that swaps twitchy, rage-quit-inducing challenges for gentle word puzzles.

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    Leximan, from developer Knights of Borria, immediately caught my eye among the many booths at December 8’s Day of the Devs indie showcase. That was largely due to its monochromatic pixel art style, which is interspersed with trippy splashes of color. You play as a pointy-hatted wizard with a slinky, gliding stride, navigating your way through a variety of colorful dungeons and puzzles.

    Read more: 20 Cool Indie Games You Won’t See At The Game Awards

    As is the case in any worthwhile dungeon, you’ll encounter baddies to dispatch, and Leximan puts a unique spin on the genre’s familiar turn-based combat. When you enter battle, you’ll see a swirling cloud of word fragments on the bottom half of the screen, which you can then use to create mystical incantations. There’s a variety of solutions to any given situation, and the most obvious word may not be the correct option—or the most interesting one. You might have a pretty clear idea of what will happen if you cast “Fireball,” but aren’t you the slightest bit curious about what might happen if you chose “Hairball” instead?

    Leximan | Announcement Trailer

    Once you’ve landed on your approach, the ensuing dialogue will dance and shimmer on the screen, often in vibrant contrast to the game’s mostly black-and-white aesthetic. On occasion, the game’s entire interface will transform or change color—as when I cast “yellow” in response to a foe wielding a green shield. These inventive riffs on the familiar combat system combine to allow each encounter to feel distinct and memorable in its own right. At least during my brief demo, there wasn’t any hint of the kind of spammy, repetitive encounters that often plague retro-styled role-playing games.

    With its full-hearted embrace of punny turns of phrase, I wasn’t surprised to discover that the team behind Leximan is based in the UK (Cornwall, to be more precise). There’s a distinct dryness and Python-esque sensibility in the writing here that feels distinct from Undertale—and its many imitators—in a welcome way. If you’re a fan of an offbeat RPG with oodles of personality, this is one to watch.

     Leximan does not yet have a release date, but you can wishlist it on Steam to keep on top of future updates.

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    Jen Glennon

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  • The Week's Hottest Gaming Takes, From The Game Awards And Fallout To GTA 6

    The Week's Hottest Gaming Takes, From The Game Awards And Fallout To GTA 6

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    It was a big week for the scantily clad at Kotaku this week, with both GTA 6 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth giving players plenty of skin. We’re also feeling very excited about the new Fallout show, but decidedly less enthusiastic about the minimal focus on the actual awards at this week’s Game Awards.

    Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

    These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

    God I Hope My Xbox Series S Can Run GTA 6

    Gif: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

    Grand Theft Auto 6 looks gorgeous. Unless its debut trailer this week was faked, it might end up being one of the best-looking games of this console generation when it comes out in 2025. By that time, my Xbox Series S will be five years old. I shudder to think of that sleek little white box trying to play Rockstar Games’ latest open-world blockbuster. – Ethan Gach Read More

    The First Hours Of Ubisoft’s New Avatar Game Are Gorgeous, Fun, And Empty

    Screenshot: Ubisoft

    I’ve played about six hours of Ubisoft’s new Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora and my big takeaway is that Avatar sickos will love this game, Far Cry Primal fans will get a kick out of Ubisoft returning to this formula, and everyone else, well… uh…dang, the game sure is pretty, huh? – Zack Zwiezen Read More

    GTA 6 Proves 2023’s Best Video Game Trend Is Here To Stay

    The protagonists of Grand Theft Auto VI share an intimate moment.

    An intimate moment in GTA 6.
    Screenshot: Rockstar / Kotaku

    Good news, everyone! Unless you’ve been living in a monastery, you’re likely aware that 2023 is the year that video games got horny again. And no, I don’t mean tastefully Hades frisky, I mean Leisure Suit Larry and Night Trap levels of unhinged lust, the likes of which “mainstream” gaming (whatever that means) hasn’t seen since the 1990s. – Jen Glennon Read More

    The Fallout TV Show Trailer Is Melting Away My Skepticism

    A character wearing Fallout power armor stands next to a person in a promotional image for the Fallout TV show.

    Screenshot: Amazon

    Historically, TV and film adaptations of video games don’t have the greatest track record. The last few years, however, have started turning that around. Pikachu, Sonic, and Mario have all starred in successful movies, and earlier this year The Last of Us got a proper prestige adaptation that certainly left a mark on fans. – Claire Jackson Read More

    The Game Awards Needs To Drop The Act And Just Become Winter E3

    An image shows host Geoff Keighley smiling awkwardly.

    Screenshot: The Game Awards / Kotaku

    And so that’s that. The Game Awards 2023 are over. 32 awards were handed out over three and a half hours. You might think, with that much time to spare, the show took its time and truly celebrated all the creators and games nominated for what the show calls “Gaming’s Biggest Night.” Nope. Instead, more so than before, the show sped through them at a rapid pace, making me wonder why it still pretends to be an award show at all. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

    Hope For A Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Springs Eternal

    Final Fantasy Tactics' characters await their PC port.

    Image: Square Enix

    Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games Square Enix ever produced, and it’s not available anywhere on modern consoles or PC. A remaster is an obvious way to fix that problem, and it seemed like all signs were pointing to one getting announced any day now. So it’s an especially cruel twist of fate that the original game’s director, Yasumi Matsuno, keeps toying with fans’ emotions about whether a remaster is actually happening or not. – Ethan Gach Read More

    Cyberpunk 2077′s Romance Update Is Sweet, But Underlines A Big Problem

    V lays on Kerry's lap on a couch.

    Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku

    Cyberpunk 2077 is in a pretty good spot these days. After a dumpster fire of a launch, the next-gen update, 2.0 patch, and Phantom Liberty expansion have gotten CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG to a respectable state. The 2.1 patch that launched this week adds a nice little bow to the game as its “last big update.” It has long-requested features like a working subway you can take across Night City, and it also lets V, its mercenary protagonist, spend a little time with their lover in their apartment. The results are an adorable stay-at-home date with your paramour, but for as sweet as it is, these hangouts underline something that felt left out of the Cyberpunk 2077 redemption arc: the romance. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

    Rockstar Is Really Good At Making GTA Trailers

    An image shows a director from GTA Vice City.

    Image: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

    The first trailer for Rockstar’s next Grand Theft Auto game, likely to be named GTA VI, comes out December 5. What can we expect the trailer to reveal? Well, based on Rockstar’s past GTA trailers, which are fantastic, there’s a pattern that can help us predict what we might see during GTA VI’s official debut. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

    The 11 Best Video Game Sequels, According To Kotaku Readers

    An image shows screenshots from Skyrim, Mass Effect and Street Fighter.

    Image: BioWare / Bethesda / Capcom

    Earlier this week, we asked you all to give us your choice for the best video game sequel. Any sequel would count and everyone was free to suggest any game they wanted, no matter how old, obscure, or divisive. And we tallied up all the answers, crunched the numbers, and figured out your top ten sequels. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

    2024’s Best Minigame Is Already Here

    A sicko lounges on the sidewalk in Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth

    Sultry singlets everywhere, oh my!
    Screenshot: Sega

    The secret is out: the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series has great minigames. Whether you enjoy playing retro arcade brawlers like Virtua Fighter, dumping dozens of hours into becoming a real-estate tycoon, or chatting up bodacious babes at the hostess club, Sega’s goofy action series has plenty of pleasant timesinks to wile away the hours. Though it’s still several weeks away, it’s already clear that the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is no exception to that rule. – Jen Glennon Read More

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  • I’m So Ready For Square Enix To Finally Make A Good Mana RPG Again

    I’m So Ready For Square Enix To Finally Make A Good Mana RPG Again

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    It’s been 15 years since the last proper game in the Mana series, and that one wasn’t even any good. The Final Fantasy action-RPG spin-off’s legacy has been marked by more downs than ups, but the peaks still burn so brightly in fans’ memories that it’s hard to believe the franchise won’t one day make good on its earlier promise. Visions of Mana is being pitched as exactly that. I hope it doesn’t let us down.

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    Officially revealed during last night’s Game Awards ceremony, I initially mistook Visions of Mana for a Dragon Quest game. The trailer looked very pretty without being overly busy, and showed open environments and real-time combat that found a nice balance between barren PS2-era 3D zones and modern arenas bursting with too much detail. Not quite a big-budget blockbuster or a bold retro HD-2D reimagining, it seems to be charting a humble new beginning for the verdant fantasy franchise.

    Mana series illustrator Airi Yoshioka’s designs sported glow-ups befitting the current PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S console generations, while snippets of a score by returning composers Hiroki Kikuta, Tsuyoshi Sekito and Ryo Yamazaki sounded promising. The action, meanwhile, centered on the massive Mana tree and a handful of fights bookended by familiar Rabites and a Mantis Ant boss.

    Visions of Mana will come to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2024, at a time when Square Enix has been dipping into the back catalog more than usual. We recently got Star Ocean: The Divine Force and Valkyrie Elysium, fine games that were nice for longtime fans but didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Will the return of Mana be any different?

    The series began as Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy in 1991 before getting its own title and a breakout hit on SNES called Secret of Mana. The top-down action-adventure was like The Legend of Zelda with an RPG twist, including a leveling system, weapon combos, and a varied magic system. Instead of traveling alone you were accompanied by two AI companions, and like Final Fantasy there was an overworld map you could eventually traverse via a flying dragon.

    The pixel art was gorgeous. The music was beautiful. To this day it has some of the best scored environments of any RPG. And despite a clumsily localized script, the dungeons, destinations, and pacing made it an unforgettable journey. The series continued with a Japan-only sequel (Trials of Mana), an experimental PS1 game (Legend of Mana), and a fantastic Game Boy Advance remake of the first game (Sword of Mana). Then things quickly unraveled.

    Screenshot: Square Enix

    The 2006 DS game Children of Mana was a randomly generated dungeon crawler that felt unimaginative and repetitive, and 2007 PS2 game Dawn of Mana took the series into 3D with a clumsy targeting system and character progression that reset after every chapter. A 2007 real-time strategy game for the DS called Heroes of Mana was overly simplistic and bland. The series’ identity fell apart outside of its unique art-style, pretty music, and familiar monster designs.

    To rebuild, Square Enix returned to basics by remastering and porting the original games. In recent years fans were blessed with the Adventures of Mana remake, Collections of Mana ports, a Secret of Mana remake, a Trials of Mana remake, and the HD remaster of Legend of Mana. The series’ highlights have been assembled and modernized on every platform. The only thing missing was a new Mana game to rival the ones from 20 years ago.

    “The development team have been working hard to ensure that Visions of Mana remains faithful to the series that players know and love while also offering fans and newcomers a fresh new experience with an all-new story, characters, and gameplay mechanics,” Mana series producer Masaru Oyamada said alongside the game’s announcement. It’s a promising start. But Mana fans have been burned plenty of times before. Please don’t let this be one of them.

                      

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    Ethan Gach

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  • The Week's Hottest Gaming Takes, From GTA 6 To Starfield

    The Week's Hottest Gaming Takes, From GTA 6 To Starfield

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    The long awaited (official) debut of Grand Theft Auto 6 is nearly upon us, Starfield is shedding like a bad wig, and Coral Island has hunks in every direction.

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

    These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

    Why Is Starfield Hemorrhaging Active Players?

    Screenshot: Bethesda / Kotaku

    In the weeks following the launch of Skyrim developer Bethesda’s highly anticipated RPG Starfield, the game has caught a bit of attention for its plummeting player numbers on Steam. Its ranking from user reviews has also dropped on Valve’s digital storefront, falling from “Positive” into the pale orange of “Mixed.” Why is one of the biggest RPGs of the last few years seemingly falling out of favor with players so soon? Read More

    It Happened To Me: The GameStop Black Friday Deal From Hell

    Link and his Hyrule champions confront the better business bureau.

    Image: Nintendo

    One of my favorite Black Friday traditions is scrolling through GameStop on my phone and getting a bunch of cool games for cheap. Usually it works out just fine. Last weekend it was a nightmare. It’s hard to convey just how terrible navigating the experience of trying to buy something from GameStop has become in 2023, but I’m going to try. Read More

    New Disney Movie Wish Could Have Big Ramifications For Kingdom Hearts

    Asha is shown viewing various wishes given up by the citizens of Rosas.

    Image: Disney

    Wish, the 62nd film released by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is a bad movie. The film is meant to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary, but instead, its incoherent story and reliance on millennial cliches for cheap jokes come off like it was fed into an AI generator and spat out onto the big screen. And the music, always a staple in Disney films, has some really lovely parts that are sadly weighed down by terrible lyrics. Read More

    I Want To Smooch Every Man In This Disney-Inspired Farming Sim

    The cast of Coral Island hangs out on the beach.

    Image: Stairway Games / David Ardinaryas Lojaya

    Coral Island, the new farming and dating sim by Stairway Games, is the latest example of a game in which pursuing a handsome lad is enough to drag me through something I’m otherwise lukewarm on. I’ve spent chunks of my playtime chopping trees trying to make a real farm out of my designated plot of land. But I do not wish to chop trees, I simply wish to climb Coral Island’s residents like trees. Read More

    Baldur’s Gate 3’s New Ending Is The One It Deserves

    Shep raises his glass at camp.

    Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

    I don’t have a lot of complaints about Baldur’s Gate 3, but the original ending is probably my biggest issue with Larian Studios’ excellent RPG. Though I was content with the ways the story concluded, its rushed execution left me wanting more, which was even more readily apparent when I tried the game’s “evil” ending and it was about as fleshed out as an intrusive thought. Larian has been adding new content to the ending since launch, including a new scene dedicated to Karlach, but in Patch #5, the studio has created an entirely new epilogue that feels like the debrief the original game was missing. Read More

    Kotaku Asks: What Is The Best Video Game Sequel?

    An image shows Gordon Freeman and Alyx from Half-Life 2.

    Half-Life 2 (2004)
    Image: Valve

    I assume most of you reading this have played at least a few video game sequels in your life and while you might have enjoyed them all, this week at Kotaku we want to know: What do you think is the best video game sequel of all time? Read More

    Spotify Wrapped Has Us Minmaxing Music Like A Game

    Makoto Yuki puts on headphones with Spotify Wrapped cards in the background.

    Image: Atlus / Spotify / Kotaku

    It’s that time of year again. Today, November 29, Spotify users all over are sharing their year-end “Wrapped” recaps, which try to sum up your past year of musical taste by giving stats and rankings on your most-listened-to artists and songs, alongside a sleek graphic to share on all your socials. I look forward to it every year. But as Spotify Wrapped has practically become an internet holiday, I can’t help but notice that it’s gamified how we listen to music throughout the year. Read More

    Kotaku Asks: What Do You Want To See From GTA 6?

    A GTA VI image shows two people, a helmeted man (left) and a gun-wielding woman (right), against a blueish, palm tree-laden background.

    Image: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

    At long last, the GTA VI rumor mill can slow down. Rockstar Games officially announced the sequel in February 2022, but the studio just confirmed that a trailer for the long-awaited crime sim sequel will arrive on December 5. As we gear up for GTA VI‘s reveal, we at Kotaku have just one question: What do y’all want to see from the game? Read More

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  • The Week's Best Game Tips and Deals, From Baldur's Gate 3 to Assassin's Creed

    The Week's Best Game Tips and Deals, From Baldur's Gate 3 to Assassin's Creed

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    Video games make the world a better place. We’ve got honkin’ deals on Xbox Series X, a new genocide-free romance option in Baldur’s Gate 3, and wicked-strong Marvel Snap decks for your perusing pleasure.

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

    Here are the tips and deals we found most helpful this week.

    One Of The Best Assassin’s Creed Games Is Free On PC

    Image: Ubisoft

    Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the Ubisoft stealth adventure series’ 2015 entry featuring dual protagonists that’s set in 19th century London, is currently free on PC until December 6. There’s just one twist: You’ll need to get it from Ubisoft Connect launcher (insert horror emoji). Don’t hate the messenger. Read More

    Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Now Lets You Recruit Minthara Without Mass Murder

    Minthara stands in Moonrise Towers.

    Image: Larian Studios

    Minthara is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most interesting companions, but only a select few people tend to see much of the Drow Paladin in their playthrough because recruiting her typically requires you to help her slaughter Tiefling refugees. Despite this, fans have found creative workarounds to recruit her without having to engage in genocide, but in Baldur’s Gate 3’s fifth patch, Larian has implemented a streamlined way to add her to your team. Read More

    Baldur’s Gate 3’s New Patch Is The Best Reason Yet To Play More

    Shep, Karlach, Gale, and Shadowheart ride a boat in a dark cave.

    Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

    Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch #5 is bringing more reasons than ever to go back to Larian Studios’ excellent RPG with new modes and, more importantly, a new epilogue that takes place six months after the main game. Read More

    60 Games Have Already Been Killed, And 2023 Ain’t Over Yet [Update]

    A collage of various characters from various dead games.

    Image: Arika / Bandai Namco Online / Digerati / EA / Gameloft / Secret Location / Ratloop Games / Square Enix / Hi-Rez / Good Luck Games LLC / Gun Media / Polyphony Digital / Warlogics / Sharkmob / Yager Development / Kotaku

    We’re still making it through 2023 and a surprising number of games have already been killed off, as devs have announced their impending deaths. Normally, we’d reserve this list for the end-of-the-year round-up, but we’re ringing the death knell early because, with 15 games already lined up for public execution, we need to start paying our respects now. So, let’s get right into it. Read More

    Say Goodbye To 2023 With December’s Game Releases

    Gif: Square Enix / Vertigo Games / Warner Bros. / Ubisoft / Cygames / Nintendo

    Well folks, the final 31 days of 2023 are upon us. While I expect you’ll likely have picked out your personal game of the year already, there’s still time for some more games to hit physical and virtual shelves, and maybe one of them will be a nice send-off to a wild year of killer games. Read More

    Xbox Series X Briefly Selling For $350 In Biggest Discount Yet

    An Xbox Series X glows green on top for all the savings.

    Image: Microsoft

    It’s no secret that the Xbox Series X hasn’t been selling great, and this holiday season Microsoft’s “next-gen” console is getting some huge discounts. For a brief period today, Amazon was selling the Starfield machine for as little as $350. Read More

    Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 8 Games To Welcome December With

    Jesse Faden from Control, a sinister sort from Mediterranea Inferno, and a character from World of Warcraft are arranged in a collage.

    Image: Remedy Entertainment / Eyeguys / Blizzard

    Oh, hi again! We’re in the final month of what is arguably one of the most impressive years in gaming in recent memory. So when you find yourself at the end of the week looking to get some gaming in, how can you possibly choose among the embarrassment of riches that’s been released this year alone? Read More

    Stomp Your Foes & Look Fly Doing It With This Marvel Snap Deck

    Stomp Your Foes & Look Fly Doing It With This Marvel Snap Deck

    NYC’s one and only Kingpin of crime headlines this manipulative, movement-based decklist

    This Marvel Snap Deck Features A Devious, Devastating Combo

    This Marvel Snap Deck Features A Devious, Devastating Combo

    Hydra’s resident mad scientist headlines a destroy-centric decklist that’ll leave your opponents feeling some type of way

    The Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark Princes

    The Week In Games: Dark Knights And Dark Princes

    A new Dragon Quest, Pixel Cafe, and SteamWorld Build are also dropping this week

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  • The Week's Biggest Gaming News, From The Fallout TV Show To The Game Awards

    The Week's Biggest Gaming News, From The Fallout TV Show To The Game Awards

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    Amouranth bought an orchard for a cool $17 mill, Bethesda’s attempting to win the hearts and minds of disaffected Starfield players on Steam, and Dan Houser is back! In podcast form!

    Diablo IV – Bear Bender Build

    Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.

    Bethesda Confirms Fallout TV Show Is Canon In First Official Preview

    Screenshot: Amazon / Vanity Fair / Bethesda

    In a newly released preview of Amazon Prime’s upcoming Fallout TV show, we learned a lot of new details about the world, characters, and story of the highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Bethesda’s popular post-apocalyptic RPG franchise. For example, the show is considered canon with the games. And Walter Goggins still looks good, even as an undead ghoul. Read More

    TGA’s Geoff Keighley Weighs In On Dave The Diver Nomination Controversy

    Two people look at each other in Dave the Diver.

    Image: Mintrocket

    An intense debate ignited November 13, when The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley announced the nominees for this year’s trophy ceremony. While some folks were surprised Pikachu face by Starfield’s absence, most people were shook by one particular title offered up for the “Best Independent Game” category. Now, after a couple weeks of silence, Keighley has tossed his two cents into the discourse. Read More

    Sonic 3 Movie Teaser Sparks Fan Freak-Out About Shadow’s Shoes

    Shadow appears in a stasis pod in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

    Image: Paramount / Sonic Wiki

    Reader, if you don’t mind a quick look into my personal neurosis, let me tell you that when I’m really looking forward to something, I get a great deal of anxiety about possibly dying before I get to experience it. I’ve felt this about video games, movies, albums, concerts, and pretty much anything else worth being excited about. Right now, the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is near the top of my list of Things I Must Survive Long Enough To Experience. This isn’t because I think the movie will be great, or even good, it’s because Shadow the Hedgehog, the best character in the franchise, is set to appear as a main character. All those feelings of excitement and existential dread have been roused today, as Paramount has released a picture of the angsty, broody, gun-toting king on set…well, his feet, at least. Read More

    Amouranth Spends $17 Million On Fruit Field To ‘Overtake’ Bill Gates

    Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa poses in front of the camera in a November 26 YouTube video.

    Screenshot: Amouranth / Kotaku

    Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, one of livestreaming’s most recognizable women, is something of a tour de force. She’s building an empire, after all, having bought a gas station, purchased an inflatable pool company, sold water straight from her hot tub, and slung beer made with her vaginal bacteria. Love her or hate her, Amouranth is a savvy businesswoman making millions upon millions of dollars every year. Now, she’s using some of those millions—17 of them, to be precise—to add another expensive purchase to the pile: a 2,213-acre fruit orchard in and around Florida. Read More

    Starfield Isn’t Boring Actually, Bethesda Tells Steam Reviewers

    An astronaut looks out over an empty planet.

    Image: Bethesda

    The meta-narrative around Starfield just took a very weird turn. Steam reviews for the sprawling sci-fi RPG recently fell to “mixed” on Valve’s storefront, and now Bethesda employees are arguing with players in the comments about why the game isn’t as boring and soulless as some of them claim. Read More

    Destiny 2 Players Are Roasting Its New ‘Starter Pack’ [Update: Bungie Deletes It For ‘Not Bringing Joy’]

    Guardians aims weapons out of a Destiny logo.

    Image: Bungie

    The hardest thing about Destiny 2 is getting any of your friends to play it. Fans of Bungie’s ambitious and imaginative sci-fi shooter have long hoped for a simple on-ramp that would make it easier to get lapsed players and newcomers back into its universe. Destiny 2’s new “Starter Pack” might sound like exactly that. Instead, it’s a pricey bundle of random items that fans can’t stop dunking on. Read More

    Overwatch 2 Is Stripping Away What Made Mythic Skins Worth The Grind

    Hanzo is shown in his Mythic Skin summoning his dragons.

    Image: Blizzard Entertainment

    When Overwatch 2 shifted the hero shooter’s economy away from loot boxes and into a seasonal battle pass, the customizable Mythic Skins unlocked at the end of that pass were framed as the light at the end of the grindy tunnel. Unlike any other Overwatch skin, these would be somewhat customizable, offering a few style and color options for players to make them their own. In the game’s first year, seven of its iconic heroes have gotten one of these Mythic skins, which mostly been well-received. But after Blizzard revealed season eight’s skin for tank character Orisa, players are noticing a downward trend in Mythic Skin quality. Read More

    Rockstar Co-Founder & GTA Lead Writer Finally Reveals What He’s Been Working On

    An image collage shows Dan Houser next to the logos of his next projects.

    Photo: Absurd Ventures / Kotaku / Patrick McMullan (Getty Images)

    Dan Houser, who co-founded Rockstar Games and was the lead writer on multiple Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption games, has finally revealed what his new studio is working on. If you were expecting a video game…well, you’ll have to keep waiting. Read More

    Dragon’s Dogma 2 Joins A Divisive Gaming Trend

    A Dragon's Dogma character stands with their arms outstretched.

    Image: Capcom

    Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks awesome, right? The much anticipated action role-playing game about dragons and pawns came out swinging with a hefty new gameplay showcase on November 28, showing off the impressive character creator and some spectacular combat and officially revealing a March 24, 2024 release date. One thing that isn’t so awesome, however, is the game’s relatively high price tag of $70, which marks the first game from Capcom at this price. Read More

    Call Of Duty Breaks Silence On Skill-Based Matchmaking

    Players face off in the hallway on the Terminal map, with one brandishing a knife.

    Image: Activision

    The November 10 launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III reignited the seemingly endless debate about multiplayer matchmaking, with players demanding Activision and Infinity Ward provide details, or even abolish it entirely. This conversation has perpetuated across multiple Call of Duty releases, but the team behind the popular first-person shooter has yet to properly acknowledge it—until now. On November 30, an official statement was shared by popular CoD website CharlieIntel on X (formerly Twitter). Read More

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  • Baldur’s Gate 3 Slyly Adds Jiggle Physics For D**ks, Balls

    Baldur’s Gate 3 Slyly Adds Jiggle Physics For D**ks, Balls

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    Baldur’s Gate 3’s fifth big patch added some significant changes to Larian’s Dungeons & Dragons RPG, including a new epilogue, modes, and ways to accomplish previously impossible feats. It also had a slightly less significant update that is probably unnecessary, but is still glorious to behold: Characters’ dicks and balls now have jiggle physics.

    11 Minutes With Baldur’s Gate 3’s Character Creator

    Fans took notice of the update after it went live yesterday, November 30. We at Kotaku are nothing if not thorough, so I opened up the game to check for myself. The easiest way to see a willy wiggle is by going to the character creator or Magic Mirror, which lets you view and rotate your character’s model. If they aren’t wearing clothes or you toggle the “Hide Clothes” option in the character creator, they will rock out with their cock out, assuming that’s the option you’ve selected for their junk. Rotate their model fast enough, and everything starts flopping around.

    If you don’t feel like booting up the game to see it for yourself, here’s a (very uncensored) video of Arendelle, my Bard Tiefling Daddy from my co-op campaign, to demonstrate:

    Baldur’s Gate 3 – Patch 5 Genital Physics

    Baldur’s Gate 3 – Patch 5 Genital Physics

    In the run-up to Baldur’s Gate 3’s launch, genital customization was an exciting addition to its character creator. Between body, pronoun, and genital options, Baldur’s Gate 3 lets you play around with form and identity in a way that’s pretty freeing. When I talked to Larian about adding genital customization earlier this year, it didn’t even occur to me that the studio would go the extra mile and add realistic flopping physics into the game months after launch. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking big enough.

    I guess now I need to go back and see if this change affects any of the sex scenes. Most of the sequences were shot so they didn’t explicitly show the deed being done, but dicks are definitely visible in some of them. Someone start an entirely nude playthrough with hogs out and let us know how it goes in the comments.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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  • New Disney Movie Wish Could Have Big Ramifications For Kingdom Hearts

    New Disney Movie Wish Could Have Big Ramifications For Kingdom Hearts

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    Wish, the 62nd film released by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is a bad movie. The film is meant to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary, but instead, its incoherent story and reliance on millennial cliches for cheap jokes come off like it was fed into an AI generator and spat out onto the big screen. And the music, always a staple in Disney films, has some really lovely parts that are sadly weighed down by terrible lyrics.

    The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History

    Overall, Wish is a hot mess, but for Kingdom Hearts fans, its core premise could have significant implications for Square Enix’s Disney and Final Fantasy crossover—that is, if Tetsuya Nomura and friends decide to incorporate it into future Kingdom Hearts games.

    What is Wish about?

    Wish is set in the kingdom of Rosas, where King Magnifico, a sorcerer with the power to grant wishes given to him by the common folk, hoards wishes as magical orbs and refuses to grant ones he doesn’t believe will be good for the kingdom. When a citizen turns 18, they give Magnifico their wish for “safekeeping” in his study until the day he decides to grant it. While he might believe himself righteous, as protagonist Asha points out, Magnifico has created a system in which he controls the fate of everyone in Rosas, rendering the townsfolk hopeless as they wait for their wishes to be granted. As the film progresses, the king’s true nature as an egomaniacal bastard becomes apparent and Asha leads a rebellion against his tyranny.

    But what does this have to do with Kingdom Hearts? As Asha learns more about the wishes in Magnifico’s clutches, it becomes clear that some of these wishes have to do with events that lead into various Disney movies. One Rosas civilian wants to fly, wears a green tunic, and is named Peter like Peter Pan. Valentino, Asha’s pet goat who gains the ability to speak because of magical shenanigans, wishes for a place where all mammals live equally, referencing the idyllic vision of 2016’s Zootopia. Asha herself becomes a Fairy Godmother and dons a cloak similar to the character from Cinderella.

    Disney

    There are other references, like Asha’s group of friends all dressing and acting similarly to the seven dwarves from Snow White. And when Magnifico is defeated, he’s trapped in a mirror, basically becoming the Magic Mirror from the same movie. There’s even a split-second frame in which his face is outlined to look like the mask that inhabits the mirror in the 1937 film.

    What does Wish mean for Kingdom Hearts’ Disney universe?

    All of this (and the 90 minutes of other Disney movie references) is part of the purpose of Wish—to celebrate Disney’s history—but there’s a larger implication here: Rosas is the center of a connected Disney universe. According to co-directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, as well as co-writer Jennifer Lee, Wish isn’t hardwired as a multiverse launch pad, but it does imply characters like Peter Pan, places like Zootopia, and songs like “When You Wish Upon A Star” are the dreams of the citizens of Rosas. Prior to this, Disney has featured the occasional crossover detail before, like Frozen featuring characters from Tangled in a crowd shot, which Disney has mostly acknowledged as cute nods. But Wish makes an entire plot point out of Disney’s most beloved characters and worlds having an inception within its kingdom.

    This raises questions as to how that world would function in a potential Kingdom Hearts’ crossover. Will Kingdom Hearts play with the abstract ideas Wish hints at? In Square Enix’s RPG series, protagonist Sora and his friends Donald and Goofy travel to various Disney worlds on a spaceship. But before these worlds were separated, they originated from Scala ad Caelum, which featured heavily in Kingdom Hearts Union χ and in the final section of Kingdom Hearts III.

    Artwork of Scala ad Caelum.

    Image: Square Enix / Kingdom Hearts wiki

    Incorporating Wish and Rosas into Kingdom Hearts’ world would require a great deal of retconning, as Square Enix has already been building out its own connected lore for 20 years. It’s unclear if it will even have to reckon with it anytime soon given Kingdom Hearts IV has been in development concurrently alongside the movie, and Disney began work on Wish in 2018, a year before Kingdom Hearts III launched. While we don’t know what Disney worlds will appear in the next game, we can reasonably assume Disney and Square have been talking about Kingdom Hearts IV while Wish was in production.

    Kingdom Hearts has released plenty of prequels and midquels in between its numbered entries that help recontextualize story beats or fill in gaps, but Scala ad Caelum’s place as the root of Kingdom Hearts’ Disney crossover is pretty well-established. So it might just be easier for Square Enix to ignore Rosas and Wish’s Disney cinematic universe entirely. However, the series is no stranger to tweaking characters, worlds, and relationships to fit its own narrative. On top of weaving the existence of the shadow-like enemy Heartless into Disney movie plots, Kingdom Hearts has continued to fold new movies into its storytelling.

    The first game made the Seven Princesses of Heart (which included Alice, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora) into a unified, magical force that affected the entire known Kingdom Hearts universe. Kingdom Hearts III made sure to add newcomers Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa as part of the New Seven Hearts meant to take up the mantle. So Rosas could realistically be molded to fit the needs of a new story arc—perhaps it could be the origin point of the new worlds Sora will explore in Kingdom Hearts IV, further explaining the expanding lore without stepping on the toes of the story the series told before.

    Sora, Donald, and Goofy stand below Arendelle's pink sky.

    Image: Disney

    Wish attempts what Kingdom Hearts pulled off over 20 years ago

    Kingdom Hearts’ interconnected Disney universe was a pretty novel idea back in 2002 when the first game was released. But nowadays, crossovers are so common they’re having diminishing returns. Take a look at recent Marvel Cinematic Universe box office numbers and you’ll see people are less infatuated with the concept of everything they watch and play weaving into one another. A shared Disney universe is a core theme in newer games like Disney Dreamlight Valley and Disney Mirrorverse, but Kingdom Hearts is one of the few examples where those worlds feel cleverly woven into each other, rather than thrown together in a disconnected pocket dimension. Now that Wish is at least toying with the idea of Rosas as the source of characters and ideas seen in previous Disney films, Kingdom Hearts is in an interesting position. It has to either reckon with one of the movies it may feature eating its lunch—albeit with its hands instead of a perfectly good fork and knife and just generally making a mess of the table—or find a way to wiggle out of the bind it’s put the series in.

    I do wonder if, given Wish’s middling reception and box office performance, Square Enix might opt not to touch the movie or its characters at all, as it would complicate things in ways that are probably not worth the trouble. But Kingdom Hearts has put some mid-ass Disney movies in its games in one way or another, so who knows? Yes, I’m looking at you, Chicken Little. In the meantime, let’s hope whatever Disney is cooking for 2024 doesn’t read like it was written by ChatGPT.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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  • The Week’s Best Gaming Stories, From Pokimane to Adults-Only N64

    The Week’s Best Gaming Stories, From Pokimane to Adults-Only N64

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    From mergers to memes, the landscape of interactive entertainment is always in motion. Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.

    Diablo IV – Bear Bender Build

    The Pokimane Cookie Apology Tour Has Officially Begun

    Screenshot: Pokimane / Kotaku

    Following some intense controversy surrounding her new snack brand, popular Twitch streamer Pokimane has apologized for an insensitive comment she made to a “rude chatter” during a November 18 livestream. Read More

    Nintendo Adds Adults-Only N64 App For Switch In Japan

    June sits in a red chair on a spaceship sitting some sort of hot drink from a white-and-red mug.

    Image: Rare

    When you think of Nintendo, you tend to think of family-friendly gaming. You think of Link and Mario and sunshine and smiley stars. The word “adult” doesn’t likely come up when you ponder games on Switch, but that’s seemingly about to change. The company is adding a new 18+ app to its subscription service, Nintendo Switch Online, although only in Japan. Read More

    Cyberpunk 2077‘s Incredible Turnaround Will Now Be Preserved Forever

    V looks over her shoulder as Night City ignites behind her.

    Image: CD Projekt Red

    As Cyberpunk 2077 approaches its third anniversary, the beleaguered blockbuster is getting a send-0ff to immortalize its unlikely turnaround. CD Projekt Red announced an Ultimate Edition for the sci-fi RPG on November 21 that includes this year’s Phantom Liberty expansion and the massive 2.0 overhaul patch. There will even be a physical copy for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S owners. Read More

    Sony Fails To Kill $7.9 Billion Lawsuit Over PlayStation Store Prices

    A PlayStation logo hangs above people as they walk by.

    Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

    A lawsuit filed last year accused Sony of using its walled-garden video game platform to charge players too much in the PlayStation Store. The London Tribunal has now allowed that lawsuit to move forward, against the PS5 maker’s objections, which could result in payments to players in the UK of up to $7.9 billion if it is ultimately successful. Read More

    Baldur’s Gate 3 Deluxe Edition Will Defy An Exasperating Trend

    Gale looks sad at a custom Baldur's Gate 3.

    Image: Larian Studios

    Buying super special “collector’s editions” of video games can be like heading into treacherous waters. These often-expensive boxes full of goodies (and also a video game) tend to sell out pretty quickly, and then you’re more likely to find them for double the price on reseller sites like eBay or Facebook’s marketplace. But if you’re eyeing the Baldur’s Gate 3 Deluxe Edition set to ship next year, Larian Studios is telling fans not to worry about it selling out, because the team isn’t making it a limited item. Read More

    PSA: You Shouldn’t Cook Your Steam Deck

    A very cooked Steam Deck.

    Photo: MisterColeman / Reddit

    Slow news day? You betcha. But look, it’s Thanksgiving, and there’s a good chance people are cooking and eating just about anything they can find right now. Please, if we can save just one person from trying to cook their Steam Deck, then it will have been worth it. Read More

    Embattled Shooter Destiny 2 Gets Witcher 3 Armor

    Destiny 2 guardians dress up like witchers.

    Image: Bungie

    The white wolf is coming to Destiny 2 by way of some new cosmetics. Bungie teased a crossover with CD Projekt Red’s beloved RPG The Witcher 3 that will add three new armor sets to make players look like protagonist Geralt of Rivia, at least if they’re willing to shell out $20 or more for a single set. The new skins look great, but also arrive at Destiny 2’s lowest point in years. Read More

    Steam’s Massive Fall Sale Is Offering Up Some Good Deals

    An image shows a collage of games on sale with discount stickers applied to each.

    Image: CD Projekt Red / Bethesda / Blizzard / EA / Lucasfilm / Valve / Kotaku

    Valve’s annual autumn sale. Some of the best and biggest PC games, including action-RPG Diablo IV, the fantastic Star Wars game Jedi: Survivor, and Bethesda’s latest, Starfield, are all on sale right now. Read More

    This Award-Winning VR Game Is Challenging Gender Norms

    This Award-Winning VR Game Is Challenging Gender Norms

    Kotaku went hands-on with the groundbreaking and immersive Body of Mine at the Games for Change festival

    Mortal Kombat 1 Players Are Time Traveling To Avoid Buying Skins

    Three Mortal Kombat 1 characters—Sub-Zero (left), Raiden (middle), and Scorpion (right)—pose in front of the camera.

    Image: NetherRealm Studios

    To avoid what many consider aggressive monetization, Mortal Kombat 1 players are doing everything they can to avoid buying cosmetics in NetherRealms’ latest 2D fighter. The latest exploit involves them utilizing a console date change hack to acquire once-free character skins that are now only available if you buy them. Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • 10 Hidden Games That’ll Make Your Steam Wishlist Shine

    10 Hidden Games That’ll Make Your Steam Wishlist Shine

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    Continuing from yesterday’s collation of unknown and under-known indie games, Thanksgaming 2023 rides again with another ten fantastic-looking games you’ve almost definitely never heard of.

    As ever with this series, these games are chosen at random from hundreds of emails, and unless I say otherwise, I’ve not played them. The idea is, there’s going to be at least something appearing here that’ll pique your interest. If you want to support these games before they’re released, the best thing you can do is click the “wishlist” button on their Steam page.

    Let us tarry no longer: here are ten wildly different indie games well worth your attention.

    Lemonade Flashbang

    No, you’re not dreaming. This is a real-life game that actually exists. Even after you slap yourself. It’s a four-player deck-building apocalyptic party-based progressive dating sim! You hit on people, gather cards, battle monsters, and randomly slaughter your own friends, all while perhaps playing as a fish-headed, lobster-clawed man naked but for a banana hammock. This is the game all those Gamers were warning you would happen if you kept letting your liberal values run amok.

    Even better, it just came out this month, with 400 scenarios, 12 weirdos to date, 120 endings, and the opportunity to work with or sabotage your friends.

    Developer: Lemonade Flashbang

    Release date: Out now

    ‘My Familiar

    Make sure you watch this trailer, because My Familiar looks incredible. This is a ‘90s-style RPG, real TMNT vibes, in which you play as one of six different creatures, many of them ducks, one a “sort of weird, purple rabbit/goblin/rat thing.”

    The art looks like something out of peak LucasArts, and the combat looks a ton of fun. Very excited to play this, and there’s a demo that’ll let me.

    Developer: Chintzy Ink

    Release date: Q4 2024

    Odencat

    In the most realistic depiction of parenthood of all time, Meg’s Monster is an RPG about trying to protect a lost child, but if she cries, the world ends. Oh, and you’re a grumpy monster from the underworld. Is this based on my life?

    Beyond that amazing setup, the game’s big twist is that your character, ogre Roy, starts with 99,999HP and it’s tough to get him hurt. It’s not him you’re worrying about, it’s Meg, and her apocalyptic tears. At just four hours long, this is one of those rarest things: an RPG you can finish.

    Developer: Odencat

    Release date: Out now

    byteparrot

    There are real Nintendo vibes to this cutesy cartoon snowboarding game, due out in the middle of next year. The music, barks and of course modernized N64-ish art all make me think of the Big N. Plus, it just looks so cheerful!

    There’s a demo already, and the final game will have eight-player online multiplayer, and four-play local, plus that all-important combination of snowboarding and gliders that only makes sense.

    Developer: Byteparrot

    Release date: Q2 2024

    Homo Narrans Studio

    With clear echos of those classic ‘90s Sherlock Holmes games, Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders is a German point-n-click adventure with deductive reasoning, and even the ability to fail at solving a murder. I love how crunchily mid-90s everything looks in the trailer above.

    There’s a demo available, the whole game due early next year.

    Developer: Homo Narrans Studio

    Release date: Q1 2024

    Flawberry Studio

    Ooh I love a clever idea! In Projected Dreams, you need to arrange 3D objects in a pile such that they cast a shadow in the shape of something else. Do so, and the shadow pings alive. So say you need a rocket ship, you gather items from this girl’s bedroom, match them up to the outline on the wall, and when complete the rocket will magic into existence.

    This one’s still a long way off, aiming for the middle of science fiction year 2025, but there’s already a demo.

    Developer: Flawberry Studio

    Release date: Q2 2025

    blackmoondev

    I introduced my son to Slay The Spire last night, and he’s already better at it than me. Looks like CosmoPirates is going to be another to show him when it comes out next year. This is a space-based deckbuilder, that looks like it’s played a lot of Mega Crit’s legendary roguelite, applying the principles to exploring strange planets and fighting weird aliens.

    Developer: BlackMoon Design

    Release date: Q1 2024

    IDUN Interactive

    You certainly can’t accuse IDUN of not having much going on. The clip above does a fantastic job of showing off this tactical RTS’s scale, as it keeps on becoming ever more improbably frantic.

    Oh, and its features boast “liquid blood simulation.” There’s a demo, and the game’s out early next year.

    Developer: IDUN Interactive

    Release date: Q1 2024

    Gutter Arcade

    The award for Cleverest Title goes to Typecast, a game in which you…type to cast spells. While there have been a fair few typing games over the years, I’ve never seen one that’s also a bullet hell. Fortunately, it just came out, so now I have.

    I just did. So you use the mouse in your right hand, left hand on the keyboard, and hit the letters that appear in your circle. And it’s manic. And a lot of fun.

    Developer: Gutter Arcade

    Release date: Out now

    Danga

    A tile-based dungeon crawler, but you can walk on the walls and ceilings? Yes please! That’s the opening thesis of He Who Watches, a full game based on a jam-winning idea from 2022.

    With a bow as your main tool, I love this conflation of old-school blobber and new-fangled puzzle game. There is, thankfully, a demo, and the whole game is due out in the middle of next

    Developer: Danga

    Release date: 2024

     

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    John Walker

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  • You Can Play Diablo IV For Free All This Week

    You Can Play Diablo IV For Free All This Week

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    Image: Blizzard

    Just in time for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Blizzard is letting you play Diablo IV for free for one full week on Steam right now. That’s a pretty sweet deal among a crop of other pretty sweet deals that Valve is offering as part of the PC gaming store’s massive annual Autumn Sale.

    Diablo IV – Bear Bender Build

    Read More: Diablo IV Will Take Over Your Thanksgiving With Some Nice Bonuses

    Blizzard tweeted on November 21 that the action-RPG has a free trial going on until November 28. If you head to Diablo IV’s Steam page right now, you can get the demon-slaying, loot-hunting game for the low until the end of the week.

    “Give thanks and drag your friends to Hell,” Blizzard said. “Play Diablo IV for free on Steam, from now until November 28th at [10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET].”

    This free Steam trial coincides nicely with a gold and XP bonus Blizzard is also running in Diablo IV. Dubbed Mother’s Blessing Week, folks playing the game will earn 35 percent more gold and experience points until November 27. This bonus applies to everyone, including people running amok in the Eternal and Seasonal realms, as well as players across all four World Tiers (Diablo IV’s interpretation of difficulty setting). Blizzard really wants this game to take over your Thanksgiving holiday, it seems.

    Read More: Diablo IV: How To Pick Your New Character

    Diablo IV—out now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox—is running its second season of content, the Season of Blood. The new update, which brought the game to Steam on October 17, adds gameplay changes (like revamping inventory management) and story content while promising an easier grind so folks can level up faster. It’s the first of many seasonal drops, which will be interspersed between yearly paid expansions. The first DLC, Vessel of Hatred, arrives next year, bringing with it a new class to play and a new region to explore.

     

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    Levi Winslow

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  • Steam’s Massive Fall Sale Is Offering Up Some Good Deals

    Steam’s Massive Fall Sale Is Offering Up Some Good Deals

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    Image: CD Projekt Red / Bethesda / Blizzard / EA / Lucasfilm / Valve / Kotaku

    Valve’s annual autumn sale. Some of the best and biggest PC games, including action-RPG Diablo IV, the fantastic Star Wars game Jedi: Survivor, and Bethesda’s latest, Starfield, are all on sale right now.

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

    This latest fall sale (“autumn,” if you are fancy) runs from November 21 to November 28th. Steam’s autumn sale features a huge list of discounted PC games. Some are older games and others, like Remannt II and Dredge, are hits from 2023.

    Here are some of highlights from this massive sale:

    • Anno 1800 – $15 (75% off)
    • Black Desert – $1 (90% off)
    • Blasphemous – $6 (75% off)
    • Climbey – $6 (40% off)
    • Cyberpunk 2077 – $30 (50% off)
    • Darkest Dungeon – $5 (80% off)
    • Dead By Daylight – $8 (60% off)
    • Demon Turf – $15 (50% off)
    • Diablo IV – $42 (40% off)
    • Dredge – $19 (25% off)
    • EA F1 23 – $28 (60% off)
    • El Paso, Elsewhere – $16 (20% off)
    • En Garde! – $12 (40% off)
    • Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition – $10 (75% off)
    • Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade – $35 (33% off)
    • God of War – $30 (40% off)
    • Hades – $12.50 (50% off)
    • Half-Life: Alyx – $20 (66% off)
    • Halo: The Master Chief Collection – $10 (75% off)
    • Hexcells Complete Pack – $2.69 (70% off)
    • Hogwarts Legacy – $36 (40% off)
    • Horizon Zero Dawn – Complete Edition – $12.50 (75% off)
    • Lies of P – $48 (20% off)
    • Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered – $36 (40% off)
    • Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – $30 (40% off)
    • Ninja Saviors, The: Return of the Warriors – $16 (20% off)
    • Red Dead Redemption 2 – $20 (67% off)
    • Remnant II – $35 (30% off)
    • Rust – $27 (33% off)
    • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – $42 (40% off)
    • Starfield – $56 (20% off)
    • Stray – $20 (34% off)
    • Street Fighter VI – $40 (34% off)
    • System Shock – $28 (30% off)
    • Tales From Off-Peak City – $5 (50% off)
    • Tiny Tiny Wonderlands: Chaotic Great Edition – $20 (75% off)
    • Warhammer 40k: Boltgun – $15 (32% off)

    As always with Steam’s big fall sale, the store’s limited-time blowout kicks off nomination season for the Steam Awards. Players can hop over to the official Steam autumn sale store page and then vote for their favorite games in various categories including Game of the Year, the best Steam Deck game, most innovative gameplay, and so on. Valve will announce the winners in January.

    If a game you loved this year got snubbed from the Game Awards, now you can (sort of) right that wrong and nominate it for some Steam awards. These are just as good as the Game Awards, right?

      .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Cyberpunk 2077’s Incredible Turnaround Will Now Be Preserved Forever

    Cyberpunk 2077’s Incredible Turnaround Will Now Be Preserved Forever

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    Image: CD Projekt Red

    As Cyberpunk 2077 approaches its third anniversary, the beleaguered blockbuster is getting a send-0ff to immortalize its unlikely turnaround. CD Projekt Red announced an Ultimate Edition for the sci-fi RPG on November 21 that includes this year’s Phantom Liberty expansion and the massive 2.0 overhaul patch. There will even be a physical copy for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S owners.

    Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right

    Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will come to “next-gen” consoles and PC on December 5, and give players the chance to experience the open world story and years of fixes and upgrades all in one place for $60.

    “This new release is the perfect way to experience every story of the dark future; it also contains the free Update 2.0, which overhauled many of the game’s systems, introducing dynamic skill trees, high-octane vehicle combat, and enhanced enemy and police AI — as well as adding new weapons, vehicles, and clothes,” CDPR wrote in a press release.

    Game of the Year editions became something of a joke in the industry many years ago, but if any release deserved to get repackaged that way, it’s Cyberpunk 2077. Once pulled from the PlayStation Store for being so busted on PS4, the game is now pretty close to what players had hoped for based on years of trailers and E3 hype. Phantom Liberty, starring Idris Elba as FIA sleeper agent Solomon Reed, is the type of high-quality expansion fans have come to expect from the studio behind The Witcher 3‘s Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine DLC. The underlying gameplay has also markedly improved.

    Read More: Phantom Liberty’s New Ending Is The Perfect Coda To Cyberpunk 2077

    But the real significance of the new Ultimate Edition is that Cyberpunk 2077‘s definitive 2.0 version will now be the one included on physical discs for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players. The Xbox version will even include the entire Phantom Liberty expansion incorporated into the base game. (PS5 owners will have to download it during installation.) That means that even in the actual year 2077, when the video game servers will have likely long since shut down, anyone who still has an ancient console and the Ultimate Edition disc will still be able to experience Cyberpunk 2077 in its complete form.

    Lots of games have managed to engineer live service-style redemption arcs these days, but very few get to see them memorialized in physical form. Now if only the Netflix spin-off Cyberpunk: Edgerunners could get a physical release as well.

               

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    Ethan Gach

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  • New Starfield Patch Finally Adds Those Graphics Options You Wanted

    New Starfield Patch Finally Adds Those Graphics Options You Wanted

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    Screenshot: Bethesda

    After some beta testing, Bethesda has released Starfield’s latest patch for PC and Xbox. This new update adds DLSS support, the ability to eat food you find in the world instantly, some much-needed graphical options, and plenty of bug fixes, too.

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

    Starfield’s 1.8.86 update is now live on Xbox Series X/S and PC. This update was first beta-tested via Steam earlier this month. It appears those tests went well, as Bethesda has now pushed the new update live for everyone. This means that after months of paid mods and community drama, Starfield finally has official DLSS support, letting folks with compatible Nvidia graphics cards use DLSS Super Resolution, Deep Learning Anti-aliasing (DLAA), Nvidia Reflex Low Latency, and DLSS Frame generation. But that’s not all that’s been added in this update.

    The new 1.8.86 update also adds the ability to eat food and drink items that you find in the world without having to pick them up first and chow down on them via the inventory screen. It’s a small change, but it should help keep you immersed in the world and spend less time digging through menus. Plus, it will be fun to just run around places and eat every Chunk I see like an out-of-control cartoon character.

    This patch also adds brightness and contrast sliders to the massive open-world space RPG. There are some HDR brightness settings, too for platforms that support that. And yes, it’s still wild that in 2023 a big-budget AAA video game from a veteran game studio shipped without brightness and contrast sliders. What a world!

    Anyway, here are the full 1.8.86 patch notes for Starfield:

    PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY

    • Addressed a number of memory-related issues and leaks.
    • Added some GPU performance optimizations, which will be more impactful on higher-end cards.
    • Improved renderer threading model, improving CPU usage most notably on higher-end systems.
    • Various stability and performance improvements.

    GAMEPLAY

    • Added the ability to eat the food placed in the world.
    • Adjusted stealth to be a bit more forgiving.
    • Fixed an issue where Andreja’s head would stay permanently cloaked.
    • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from firing their weapons.
    • Fixed issues where some NPC could be seen not wearing clothes (Note: This issue may resolve itself over time).
    • Fixed an issue where already in-progress skill challenges could stop progressing after reaching “the Unity” and starting a new game.
    • Fixed an issue that could temporarily prevent opening the inventory or saving after entering “the Unity”.
    • PC: Fixed an issue where mouse movement could be choppy.
    • Fixed a rare issue that could cause the home ship to be lost.
    • Fixed an issue where the ship services technician might be missing.
    • Fixed an issue where occasionally the camera could shake incorrectly during Traveling, Grav Jumping, Docking, or Landing transitions.

    GRAPHICS

    • Addressed an issue with how ambient occlusion appeared in ultrawide resolutions.
    • Optimized initial shader compilation that occurs on start-up.
    • Added the ability to adjust Brightness and Contrast in the Display Settings menu.
    • Added the ability to adjust HDR Brightness provided that the system supports it. (Xbox & Windows 11 only).
    • Addressed a number of materials that could sometimes present an unintended pattern under certain conditions.
    • Fixed various visual issues related to the new FOV slider options.
    • Improved the appearance of the eyes on crowd characters.
    • Addressed a number of minor visual issues related to lighting, shadows, terrain, and vegetation.
    • PC: Addressed additional visual issues related to DLSS.

    QUESTS

    • All That Money Can Buy: Fixed a rare issue where players couldn’t sit during the negotiation with Musgrove.
    • Blast Zone: Fixed an issue where the hard rocks that need to be cleared out by players will not appear on Ngodup Tate’s land.
    • Echoes of the Past: Fixed an issue where the Grylloba Queen could sometimes not be reachable during the objective “Secure the Shuttle Bay”.
    • Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where players’ quest progression could potentially be blocked due to a missing docking prompt.
    • Grunt Work: Addressed an issue where progress could appear blocked if “Supra et Ultra” was completed while returning to the Lodge during “High Price to Pay”.
    • No Sudden Moves: Fixed an issue that could prevent the entrance door to the Scow ship from being opened again.
    • Operation Starseed: Fixed an issue where the key that is needed to exit the facility could sometimes not be present.
    • Sabotage: Fixed an issue where David Barron could potentially not be found by players.
    • Short-Sighted: Fixed an issue where players could rarely become control-locked while speaking with Vladimir.
    • The Heart of Mars: Fixed an issue where players might not be able to mine the “The Heart of Mars”.

       .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Kotaku’s Biggest Gaming Culture News For The Week November 18, 2023

    Kotaku’s Biggest Gaming Culture News For The Week November 18, 2023

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    From mergers to memes, the landscape of interactive entertainment is always in motion. Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    Baldur’s Gate 3’s New Deluxe Edition Is A Steal For The Price

    Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

    Baldur’s Gate 3 already has one special edition, in the form of its Collector’s Edition. We even unboxed it here at Kotaku, and it’s got a lot of cool knickknacks that pay tribute to its tabletop roots. Of course that was expensive, solely for PC and PlayStation 5 players, and didn’t include a physical copy of the game itself. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to Xbox next month, so Larian Studios is taking the opportunity to release a new, Deluxe Edition for all three platforms. And given what comes in the box, I think it’s pretty darn affordable. Read More

    The Best Soulslike Of 2023 Just Got Easier

    The Scrapped Watchman (third main boss in the game) grabs Lies of P player character P in open courtyard.

    Image: Neowiz Games / Round8 Studio

    Like game director Ji Won Choi promised in early November, duo-developers Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio have dropped a new update for their gothic, Belle Époque-era Soulslike RPG, Lies of P. And just as expected, this update makes some significant changes to the game so that you have an actual fighting chance at surviving this bloodied retelling of the Pinocchio story. Read More

    Modern Warfare III Players Beg For OP ‘Groot’ Skin To Get Removed

    Groot (Nova's Gaia skin) guns down a hapless soldier in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

    Image: Activision

    Modern Warfare III players are begging Activision to remove a “literally invisible” cosmetic first introduced in Modern Warfare II that’s plaguing multiplayer matches yet again. Read More

    Valve Has A Plan To Stop Bots And Resellers From Hoarding The New Steam Deck

    On November 16, Valve will let folks purchase a new Steam Deck OLED Limited Edition model, which features all the upgrades of the base OLED version of the portable PC, but with some extra cosmetic details, too. And to help folks actually get a chance to buy this thing, Valve is implementing some safeguards to slow or stop bots and resellers from buying them all up instantly. Read More

    Hades Is Joining The Best Free Game Library Nobody Uses

    The hero of Hades holds up a sword in front of stone serpants.

    Image: Supergiant Games

    One of the best action-RPGs in a generation is finally getting a mobile version, but it’s a mixed blessing. The good news is that Hades is coming to iPhones in 2024 and will be free for Netflix subscribers. The bad news is that it will be exclusive to both, with no way to buy the game outright or play it on Android devices. Read More

    Suicide Squad Game Resurfaces With Big Map And Live-Service Plans

    A screenshot shows the Suicide Squad standing together in the Hall of Justice.

    Rocksteady is finally ready to start talking about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, after delaying it (again) earlier this year. The studio first announced its upcoming supervillain co-op action game way back in 2020. In a new video series going behind the scenes of the game, the devs explained how big its map will be and showed off some new cutscenes. Conveniently, they barely mentioned any of the live-service aspects fans aren’t happy about. Read More

    Here Are Your Picks For The Biggest 2023 Game Awards Snubs

    Geoff Keighley stands on stage at his award show.

    Photo: JC Olivera (Getty Images)

    Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards are far from the be-all and end-all of which games are good, creatively bold, and deserving of praise each year, but they’re still fun to get way too serious about. It’s the one day game developers get to dress fancy, go up on stage, and receive our collective thanks for their artistic accomplishment rather than getting canned the night before the quarterly earnings call. Read More

    Former Mass Effect Lead Forms New Studio To Make Narrative-Focused Games

    Garrus is seen speaking to Shepard in the Citadel tower, with a fountain in the background.

    Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku

    Chinese publisher NetEase is opening a new studio with the lead writer behind the Mass Effect series at the helm.

    Worlds Untold will be based in Vancouver, and helmed by CEO Mac Walters, who’s known for his work at BioWare that spanned almost 20 years. Walters was a writer on martial arts RPG Jade Empire, then a senior writer on the first entry in the sci-fi RPG series, Mass Effect, and was eventually promoted to lead writer on Mass Effect 2 and 3. Following this, he was brought on as creative director on Mass Effect: Andromeda, worked on early narrative direction on Anthem, and project directed the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters, before ending his tenure at the studio as a production director on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. So he was at the forefront of a lot of the narrative direction of BioWare’s last two decades. How you feel about that probably varies depending on your opinions on the state of the studio, but speaking personally, the narrative wasn’t my biggest problem with most of those games. Read More

    Kotaku Unboxes The Spider-Man 2 Limited Edition PS5

    Kotaku Unboxes The Spider-Man 2 Limited Edition PS5

    The $600 set is currently sold out at PlayStation’s store but is still a gift to keep in mind for the Spidey-loving gamer in your life this holiday season

    Total Recall: How Does KotOR Hold Up In 2023?

    How Does KotOR Hold Up In 2023? | Total Recall

    We look back at what made BioWare’s first Star Wars RPG one of the most celebrated of all time

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  • Kotaku’s Opinions For The Week November 18, 2023

    Kotaku’s Opinions For The Week November 18, 2023

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    Gamers are a passionate bunch, and we’re no exception. These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

    6 Things To Know Before Starting Persona 5 Tactica

    This Is What It Looks Like When A Massive Video Game Publisher Messes Up

    Screenshot: Embracer / Kotaku

    This is Lars Wingefors, the CEO of Embracer, a Swedish holding company that owns multiple video game publishers, dozens of studios, and employs over 16,500 people. Or at least it used to. Embracer has been laying off hundreds, canceling projects, and closing studios as it reckons with deals that fell through, ambitious bets on big games, and an unprecedented acquisition spree that saw the investor group hoover up everything it could, from the studio behind Deus Ex to the license for The Lord of the Rings. One company to rule them all. That seemed to be the extent of the strategy. Read More

    Kotaku Asks: Who Got Snubbed At The Game Awards Nominations?

    Geoff Keighley stands on stage next to a magic pot.

    Photo: Kevin Winter (Getty Images)

    This week, creator and host of The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley, revealed which games are in the running for prizes at his showcase in December. Dozens of games were named across over 30 categories. What was missing? Read More

    Persona 5 Tactica Tries To Make Up For The Series’ Homophobia

    Erina is shown holding a Pride flag in the middle of a battlefield.

    Image: Atlus / Kotaku

    I love Persona 5, but over the years, Atlus’ stylish, supposedly socially-conscious RPG hasn’t loved me. Queer Persona fans know the series to be fraught, and even the most passionate among us treat it like the fun uncle who claims to love everyone and still says something extremely out of pocket each holiday. I figured Persona 5 Tactica, the tactical spin-off launching on November 17, would follow all the previous games and find some way to throw a jab at queer people for no reason. But after years of feeling like one of my favorite series has been trying to push me out, Tactica opened the door for me, if only for a moment. Read More

    Dear Video Game Industry, Please Name A Woman

    A woman takes a selfie in front of a gaming PC running Fortnite.

    Photo: Dean Drobot (Shutterstock)

    It’s been nearly a decade since GamerGate, the misogynistic game industry tantrum that harassed women under the guise of demanding journalistic ethics—yet 2023 has felt like we’re not that far past it at all. Read More

    Modern Warfare III Multiplayer Is A Helluva Nostalgia Trip

    A Call of Duty operator wields a gold-tipped weapon on a snowy map.

    Image: Activision

    Say what you will about Modern Warfare III—it was developed in a confusing rush, hence why its campaign mostly sucks, and it’s currently the worst-rated Call of Duty game in the franchise’s 20-year history—but god damn, does its multiplayer make me feel like I’m in college again. Read More

    Crash Team Rumble’s Latest Cameo Makes Me Want A New Spyro Game

    Spyro and his friends charge toward the camera.

    Image: Activision / Kotaku

    I liked Crash Team Rumble. I even said as much on this very website when the brawler MOBA launched back in June. But man, seeing them add Spyro, Crash’s flying, fire-breathing, OG PlayStation platformer contemporary to the roster just makes me wish we had a new Spyro the Dragon game. Read More

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