Tag: Windows games

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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December 10, 2023
The Week's Biggest Gaming News, From GTA 6 To The Game Awards

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Gaming’s biggest night has come and gone, and perhaps the biggest surprise of all was just how little time devs were given to thank their family, fans, and recently deceased colleagues during their acceptance speeches. But before that, we finally got our first in-depth look at Rockstar’s GTA 6, the most anticipated game in a decade. Here’s your cheat sheet to the week’s biggest news.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

GTA VI Confirmed Next-Gen Only, Skipping PC At Launch

Screenshot: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company’s long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

10 Years Ago, An Underrated Zelda Game Paved The Way For Tears Of The Kingdom

Screenshot: Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is often heralded as one of the best adventure games of the past 25 years. With the nefarious Ganon once again scheming to conquer the land, it’s up to Link to traverse through time, space, and yet another aggravating water temple to save the Kingdom of Hyrule. While the epic for the N64 is celebrating a major birthday this year, inspiring tribute mash-up videos and social media celebrations, another classic Zelda title is quietly celebrating a major milestone of its own. – Jen Glennon Read More

Steam’s Most-Hyped Zombie Game Is Out, And It’s A Dumpster Fire

Image: Fntastic

The Day Before kicked off 2023 as one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. Now, after endless controversies, the self-proclaimed open-world survival-horror MMO styled after The Last of Us is finally in Steam Early Access, and it’s getting panned. The first players to lay hands on the much-hyped zombie shooter are sharing footage of game-breaking glitches and leaving thousands of negative reviews. – Ethan Gach Read More

Return To Vice City In 20 Glorious Images From GTA 6

Screenshot: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

We knew it was coming. Heck, we knew it was mere hours away. But Grand Theft Auto VI is finally, truly happening for real, and we just got our first official glimpse of the game, thanks to Rockstar Games. – Jen Glennon Read More

Overwatch 2’s Latest Mercy Skin Sparks Fan Backlash

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2 season eight begins today, December 5, but Blizzard showed off its new skins, events, and latest tank hero, Mauga, before kick-off. And the sentiment from players about the skins for season eight has been mixed—Baptiste’s formal wear is a standout, but it’s sandwiched between some real stinkers and an unremarkable Mythic Skin. But one cosmetic has stood out for all the wrong reasons: Mercy’s Year of the Dragon event skin. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

Everything We Saw At The Game Awards 2023

Screenshot: The Game Awards / Kotaku

2023’s The Game Awards just wrapped. Did you watch it? Well, no worries if you missed it (or had something better to do) as we’ve rounded up every major game trailer and world premiere you could want to watch in a single sitting. So if you’re looking to check out a new trailer or catch up on all the games that were announced this year, you’re in the right place. – Claire Jackson Read More

Alleged New GTA 6 Leak Is Already Causing Pandemonium

Image: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

A seven-second TikTok reverberated across the internet over the weekend, after it claimed to show the “first look” at in-game footage of a city in Grand Theft Auto VI, the open-world blockbuster whose official trailer is just a day away. Frantic speculation about whether the footage was real or not ensued, including unverified rumors that the leak involved a Rockstar Games developer’s own kid. – Ethan Gach Read More

Report: Bungie Will Lose Independence Within Sony If Destiny 2 Fails Financial Goals

Image: Bungie

While Sony acquired Destiny 2 maker Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, it repeatedly claimed the creator of Halo and other hits would remain an “independent subsidiary.” Now IGN reports that if Bungie’s sci-fi MMO keeps failing revenue targets, Sony could dissolve its existing board of directors and take full control of the roughly 1,100 person studio. – Ethan Gach Read More

Sega Exec On How Cloud-Based Services Are The New Game Demos

How Cloud-Based Services Are Like The New Game Demos

The creative director of the studio behind Sonic Dream Team shares his thoughts on the future of mobile gaming

Every Change In Cyberpunk 2077‘s Last Big Update

Image: CD Projekt Red

After a long and tumultuous road, Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be getting its final major update today. The sprawling patch includes a new ridable metro system and more romance options, as well as a host of other tweaks, changes, and additions. Unless it ends up breaking something big in the game, consider patch 2.1 Night City’s last overhaul until Cyberpunk 2 arrives a decade or so from now. – Ethan Gach Read More

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December 9, 2023
If The Game Awards Is All About The Devs, Then Let Them Speak

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At the opening of last night’s 2023 edition of The Game Awards, host Geoff Keighley hyped the event as an evening “to recognize outstanding creative work in games in 2023.” But as the night went on, the luminaries who were being awarded for their “outstanding creative work” seemed like they weren’t given much time to actually speak about said work.

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

Read More: Everything We Saw At The Game Awards 2023

The Game Awards is held at the end of every year, ostensibly to celebrate and award the labor that goes into the video games we spend countless hours enjoying. As at most awards shows, it’s customary for winners to give a bit of a speech, thanking those who helped make their game, and thus the award, possible. But this year it felt like time was cut short for most developers. Some have speculated that The Game Awards was worried someone might mention the serious labor issues facing the industry, or yet scarier, the current conflict in Gaza, thus inviting that most dreaded of phenomena: controversy. Whatever the reason, it was a night that always felt too out of time for the people it was ostensibly supposed to be about.

Read More: We Have To Talk (Again) About How War Games Depict The Middle East

Throughout the night, orchestral music floated in very soon after most award winners began speaking. That might be a good policy for keeping such a stacked event moving, but when you consider just how much time was devoted to celebrities, muppets, and conversations with high-profile developers like Hideo Kojima (who Aftermath estimates gobbled up as much time as 13.5 of the night’s truncated winner speeches would have), it’s not hard to feel like The Game Awards failed to prioritize its time well. And many awards, probably most, went without anyone coming up on stage at all, getting just quick, cursory-feeling readouts of the winners from Keighley or his cohost before it was time to cut to another ad break, announce a new game, or invite a celebrity onstage.

After a year of constant, highly public layoffs across the industry, ushering developers offstage while granting celebrities all the time they could ask for feels uniquely out of step. Running large events relying on commercial support is no easy task, but surely there must be a better way to schedule things out so that, in Keighley’s own words, we can actually “recognize outstanding creative work.”

Read More: Here Are All Of The 2023 Game Award Winners (And Losers)

Attendees report a large, ominous teleprompter message reading “Please Wrap It Up,”” which as Javier Cordero pointed out on Twitter (presently known as “X”), was even on display while people from Larian Studios tried to talk about what developing the game meant to them while they accepted the most prestigious award of the night: Game of the Year.

The speech of Larian’s Swen Vincke brought tears to the eyes of his team members in the audience. He talked about what Baldur’s Gate 3 meant to the team, how it was the team’s pandemic project and how they lost Jim Southworth, lead cinematic artist on Baldur’s Gate 3, to cancer just last month. This was easily one of the most human moments in the nearly four-hour onslaught of non-stop commercialism, but hey, Please Wrap It Up, right?

Another odd moment came when CD Projekt Red took home the award for Best Ongoing Game. After being introduced by actor Anthony Mackie, who spent a chunk of time bantering with the audience (to everyone’s confusion) and plugging season two of Twisted Metal on Peacock. But when Gabriel Amatangelo and Paweł Sasko actually got on stage to collect their award, they were given scant time before the music started up.

This morning, Geoff Keighley himself recognized that, “while no one was cut off,” the music indeed felt like it came in too quickly.

But, as Axios’ Stephen Totilo shared, it’s not like the “wrap it up music” was automated. “I can confirm” he wrote on Twitter, “there was manual control of when to start the 30-second countdown to the ‘please wrap it up’ sign, manual control of when to make it flash. Was tweakable.”

Celebrities are entertaining and ads do pay the bills necessary to keep a show running, but hopefully future Game Awards shows will allocate developers as much time as Gonzo the muppet was given to talk about the work they and their teams put in to earn their recognition. Give folks time to enjoy their deserved moment in the spotlight, or else let’s just call The Game Awards what it is: Winter E3.

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Claire Jackson

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December 8, 2023
Suicide Squad Will Get An Offline Story Mode, Eventually

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Image: Warner Bros.

Always-online multiplayer shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League won’t stay that way forever. Rocksteady Studios confirmed the apparent live service game will get an offline story mode sometime after launch in 2024.

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The announcement came alongside a new trailer at the 2023 Game Awards highlighting the corrupted Justice League under Braniac’s control as he takes over Metropolis. “In addition to our latest trailer, we also have some news to share,” the studio shared in the game’s Discord tonight (via VGC). “We’re happy to confirm, we are planning to add an offline story mode that will give players the option to experience the main campaign without an internet connection. We’re aiming to add this update in 2024 and will provide more details when available.”

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – Official Justice League Trailer – “No More Heroes”

Suicide Squad’s always-online requirement was one of its initial red flags as fans of Rocksteady’s single-player Batman: Arkham games appraised the studio’s departure into multiplayer. Early gameplay reveals and leaks pointed to gear scores and battle passes, the types of things many players have burned out on from existing live service loot-based games like Destiny 2. Suicide Squad will have seasonal content, though much of it will be free.

Originally set to release earlier this year, Rocksteady ended up delaying the game until February 2, 2024 to finish polishing it. When it recently reemerged in an extended gameplay trailer last month, the studio repeatedly touted Suicide Squad’s characters and story. And despite fan skepticism, anecdotal accounts from a recent alpha play test have been surprisingly positive. One tester who shared footage of the game with Kotaku found the combat quick, with substantial, impactful hits and combos when brawling with enemies.

It remains to be seen if Suicide Squad’s story can live up to the standards set by the Batman: Arkham games, but at least if it does players now know they’ll be able to play it offline, even if the game’s servers eventually shutdown.

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Ethan Gach

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December 7, 2023
Steam’s Most-Hyped Zombie Game Is Out, And It’s A Dumpster Fire

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The Day Before kicked off 2023 as one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. Now, after endless controversies, the self-proclaimed open-world survival-horror MMO styled after The Last of Us is finally in Steam Early Access, and it’s getting panned. The first players to lay hands on the much-hyped zombie shooter are sharing footage of game-breaking glitches and leaving thousands of negative reviews.

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Developed by Fntastic and originally revealed back in 2021, The Day Before has been accused of just about everything, including using exploitative labor, plagiarizing other games, and being nonexistent vaporware. But exist the post-apocalyptic loot shooter does. After tons of delays and a legal battle that saw it temporarily delisted from Steam, The Day Before is now actually available to play on Steam, and apparently it sucks.

Screenshot: Vavle / Kotaku

Thousands of initial reviews of the game on Steam, where it’s currently rated as “overwhelmingly negative,” describe it as buggy, incomplete, and falsely advertised. “This is not an open-orld MMO, this Is a small area extraction shooter,” wrote one player. Others claimed to have a hard time even logging onto the servers in the first place. Those who did manage to play say its small map is mostly empty and lacks any real survival features. There’s apparently not even a melee attack. “The day before you got scammed,” reads one review. “The Day Before Refund,” reads another.

In addition to not living up to the early trailer hype, let alone matching the genre tags in the description, players have described lots of bugs where the world breaks while they try to play.

“I loaded up The Day Before to make sure it’s even workable…and the game had me float through a wall and soft-locked the entire game the second I got control of a character,” tweeted Second Wind cofounder Nick Calandra. The very start of the game appears to be a major pain point, with lots of players falling through the entire map shortly after the game starts. When the game is working it mostly looks like a stripped-down clone of The Division 2.

For anyone who’s not already vaguely familiar with The Day Before’s pre-launch trials and tribulations, here’s a quick rundown of some of the highlights. Early trailers looked good. The game was supposed to come out in 2022 but didn’t. Fntastic asked volunteers to help make it in exchange for free game codes. The game got kicked off Steam right before its new 2023 release date over an apparent trademark dispute. Fans began to accuse the studio of pushing out faked YouTube videos to chase clout and then rug pulling at the last second. The Steam page finally came back in November alongside fresh accusations of plagiarizing other companies’ trailers.

All of that drama has helped propel it to the number-one place on Twitch today, with over 400,000 concurrent viewers at launch. How many of them will stick around remains to be seen. Quality content draws eyeballs. So do car crashes. At least for now, people seem to be as excited to gawk at The Day Before’s latest stumble as to actually play it.

Somehow I don’t think a Cyberpunk 2077-style turnaround is in its future, but I’ll happily be proven wrong. At least the game technically exists, sort of, which was more than many expected as recently as a month ago. “To our future player who will dive into this game on December 7: We made this for you so that you will enjoy the game and it becomes a celebration,”the studio wrote in a statement today. “Together, we will continue improving the game and adding content.”

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Ethan Gach

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December 7, 2023
New Steam Sale Contains Some Of The Best Games Ever

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The 2023 Game Awards are happening on December 7. And to celebrate a night of mostly trailers, ads, and celebrities with maybe (if we’re lucky) a few awards tossed in, Steam and The Game Awards have teamed up for a big sales event discounting some of the best games of the last decade.

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There are some genuinely great games on sale right now, including newer titles like Mortal Kombat 1, Cocoon, the Dead Space remake, and Hi-Fi Rush. These are all games that are nominated for various awards this year. But, interestingly, this sales event—which ends December 11—also features discounts on games that won in Game Awards of old. So that means stuff like Control, The Witcher 3, Gris, and Grand Theft Auto V are also discounted for a limited time on Valve’s digital PC store.

If you are one of the 27 people on Earth who have yet to buy and play GTA 5, now’s as good a time as any to check it out before GTA 6 in 2025.

Here are some highlights we spotted in the massive Game Awards sale happening now on Steam.

2023 Nominees

Company of Heroes 3 – $48 (20% off)

Terra Nill – $18 (30% off)

Venba – $15 (20% off)

Hi-Fi Rush – $22 (25% off)

Viewfinder – $20 (20% off)

Diablo IV – $42 (40% off)

Starfield – $49 (30% off)

Mortal Kombat 1 – $49 (30% off)

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – $39 (45% off)

Cocoon – $20 (20% off)

Dead Space – $27 (55% off)

2022-2020 Winners

Stray – $20 (34% off)

As Dusk Falls – $10 (67% off)

It Takes Two – $12 (70% off)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits – $20 (50% off)

Tales of Arise – $20 (50% off)

Guilty Gear Stive – $20 (50% off)

Mortal Kombat 11 – $5 (90% off)

No Man’s Sky – $30 (50% off)

Phasmophobia – $13 (10% off)

2019 – 2014 Winners

Gris – $3.75 (75% off)

Control – $10 (75% off)

Dragonball FighterZ – $14 (85% off)

Celeste – $5 (75% off)

The Messenger – $5 (75% off)

Wolfenstein II – $6 (85% off)

What Remains of Edith Finch – $5 (75% off)

Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice – $5.50 (85% off)

Injustice 2 – $5 (90% off)

Doom (2016) – $4 (80% off)

Civilization VI – $6 (90% off)

Inside – $2 (90% off)

The Witcher 3 – $10 (75% off)

Mortal Kombat X – $5 (75% off)

Her Story – $2 (80% off)

Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition – $8 (80% off)

Shadow of Mordor – $5 (75% off)

Grand Theft Auto V – $15 (63% off)

Valiant Hearts – $3.75 (75% off)

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Zack Zwiezen

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December 6, 2023
GTA 6 Trailer Makes Tom Petty Song Explode On Spotify

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Earlier this week, Rockstar Games released the long-awaited first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the massive sequel to 2013’s GTA 5. And while the trailer itself is quickly racking up millions of views every hour, the Tom Petty song featured in it is also doing pretty dang well, too.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

I probably don’t need to tell you that on December 4, after a small leak, Rockstar released the first GTA 6 trailer a bit early and, in the process, blew up the internet. That trailer, which revealed the game won’t be out until 2025 and also showcased some incredible-looking NPCs, has since hit over 100 million views already, breaking some world records in the process. And the trailer’s song, “Love Is a Long Road,” is predictably blowing up too, according to Spotify.

Rockstar Games

As reported by IGN, Tom Petty’s “Love Is a Long Road” has seen a ridiculous increase in streams since the trailer went live. According to Spotify, streams of “Love Is a Long Road” have increased by 36,979% compared to last week. As of December 6, the song has over 11 million plays on Spotify.

Originally released in 1989, Tom Petty’s “Love Is a Long Road” was included on his massively successful album, Full Moon Fever, alongside hits like “Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back Down,” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” While “Love Is a Long Road” will no doubt continue to explode online thanks to the GTA 6 trailer, this isn’t the first time Petty—who died in 2017—has had his music featured in a GTA game.

Tom Petty / UMG

If you played GTA San Andreas back in 2004, you know that “Runnin’ Down A Dream” was included on the game’s classic rock radio station K-DST. According to the official Tom Petty Twitter account, the famous singer “loved contributing” the song to Rockstar’s massively successful open-world sequel.

I’d like to think if he was still alive today, Petty—who was born in Florida— would love his song being featured in a trailer for what looks to be the ultimate “Florida game.”

.

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Zack Zwiezen

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December 6, 2023
GTA 6 Trailer Reaction Livestreams Hit With Takedowns

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Screenshot: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

Grand Theft Auto reveals are arguably among the biggest cultural events in all of gaming. It was no surprise, then, that hype for GTA VI blew through the roof as thousands of people patiently stared at a black screen, waiting for the official trailer to release. However, after someone leaked the trailer on Twitter, Rockstar made the decision to publish it early, which left livestreamers scrambling to Go Live as soon as possible to provide their reactions. Unfortunately, at least some of those reactions were hit with copyright strikes.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

According to IGN, content creators reacting to the GTA VI video ran into some trouble. Streams across TikTok were muted, possibly because the trailer makes use of Tom Petty’s “Love Is a Long Road.” The song is copyrighted, after all, and most platforms have restrictions on copyrighted materials. Meanwhile, some streams on other platforms were taken down entirely. In the video below, for instance, YouTuber TheProfessional details how his reaction video was hit with copyright strikes. Thankfully, after some time passed, most content was brought back.

TheProfessional

It’s hard to specify how widespread the issue was given that it was temporary, but the strikes point to the chaotic flurry surrounding the trailer’s release. GTA VI has been in development for many years now, with copious leaks providing tons of information on the highly anticipated crime simulator. We’ve learned that the game will take place in Vice City and really bring theFlorida energy, and will feature two protagonists in a Bonnie and Clyde kind of relationship. Kotaku readers also shared their many wants from the next Grand Theft Auto, and we’ve learned that it will skip PC when it launches sometime in 2025.

The trailer sure looks stunning, with richly detailed environments and character models. Let’s hope the Xbox Series S can handle it.

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Levi Winslow

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December 5, 2023
The Week In Games: What’s Coming Out Beyond Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

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Eric Schulkin

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December 4, 2023
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

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

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

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

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?

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

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?

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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December 3, 2023
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

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

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]

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

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

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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December 2, 2023
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

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

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

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

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’]

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

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

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

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

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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December 2, 2023
Street Fighter 6 Players Drag Capcom For ‘Insane’ New Costume Prices

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After remaining silent on the price of the much-anticipated new skins for all 18 Street Fighter 6 launch characters, we finally know how much each alternate costume will cost, and fans of the 2D fighter aren’t too happy about the prices they’re seeing.

Hopefully Street Fighter 6’s New Open-World Won’t Mean Capcom Skimps On The Fighting

The company announced on November 21 that all 18 Street Fighter 6 characters will get a brand-new costume. Called Outfit 3, each skin was, according to Capcom, “inspired by in-game illustrations, various cultures, and pure fun.” They look dope, especially the ninja-inspired garb for my main Kimberly, but there was one question on everyone’s mind: How much would these costumes run for? Well, now that the alternate skins have dropped, the prices are exorbitant. Specifically, one outfit for one character costs you 300 Fighter Coins, the game’s premium currency you can only buy with real money. 300 Fighter Coins is nominally equivalent to $6. However, it ain’t that simple.

Street Fighter 6 skin prices are ‘outrageous’

While shelling out 300 FC for one character’s Outfit 3 skin nets you the costume and nine additional colorways, there are two problems with the monetization here: You can’t buy exactly 300 FC through microtransactions and these specific skins can only be unlocked by forking over IRL money, not through playing the game. While the second problem sucks, it’s the first problem that’s pissing folks off.

If you wanted to get just one skin for your main—in my case, Kimberly—you would need to spend $10 to get two separate FC bundles containing 250 FC each. That can easily rack up since there are 18 Outfit 3 skins you can buy in Street Fighter 6, and since Capcom isn’t offering a complete bundle or a discount for purchasing more than one skin, if you wanted to collect them all, you’d have to subtract about $100 from your bank account. This monetization is what has folks riled up across Reddit and X/Twitter.

The sentiment is the same on the Street Fighter subreddit, too. Redditor Unlucky-Chair76 said the pricing is “insane” for a $60 game, while another user claimed Capcom is “out of their minds” for charging this much for skins. Soul699 posted in the subreddit that folks should not buy the costumes because the prices are “outrageous.” Meanwhile, redditor Edgelordguydude said that though they think the pricing is fine, the real problem is the lack of a bundled discount. Ultimately, as user oneizm put it, all you can do is “vote with your wallet.”

Kotaku reached out to Capcom for comment.

Street Fighter 6 has been quite successful since it launched on June 2. It’s easily the most approachable fighting game out right now, what with its modern controls and training mode that makes understanding fighting game mechanics so much easier for newcomers. It’s just a bummer that Capcom is tainting such a hit with aggressively bad monetization practices.

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Levi Winslow

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December 1, 2023
Massive Game Microtransaction Company Sounds Super Shady

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The live-service video game economy runs on microtransactions, and Xsolla is one of the companies that helps process them. The payment platform works with Epic Games, Unity, Roblox, and others to collect money from players all over the world. Now a new lawsuit alleges that Xsolla has mishandled $40 million and fired the whistleblower who disclosed the crimes to his bosses.

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

Emil Aliyev, the former VP of global accounting at Xsolla, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on November 22 claiming wrongful termination and retaliation against a whistleblower. The lawsuit says Aliyev discovered $40 million was missing from two accounts back in May of this year and that he later found the money had been dispersed to a Goldman Sachs bank account that belonged to Xsolla founder and chairman, Aleksandr Agapitov. Aliyev also alleges that Xsolla hasn’t passed an IRS audit since 2017.

The lawsuit continues:

In or around May 2023, Mr. Aliyev reported his findings to the Chief Financial Officer, Leon Perry (“Mr. Perry”). Mr. Aliyev made a complaint to Mr. Perry that it was illegal for Xsolla to provide Mr. Agapitov with monetary loans without charging a standard interest rate, which Xsolla had not done. Mr. Aliyev also made a complaint that Xsolla failed to report the approximately 40-million-dollar loan to Mr. Agapitov to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Mr. Perry responded and acknowledged the deficiencies and the monetary disbursements, but ultimately brushed off Mr. Aliyev’s complaints and stated, “It is not your problem.” Mr. Aliyev responded, “This is my job.”

Aliyev claims he was later called into a meeting with Agapitov on July 28, explained why he thought the transactions violated finance rules, and was fired a few days later. Xsolla apparently fired Aliyev for violating company policy, but wouldn’t say which one, and the lawsuit alleges he was actually “unlawfully terminated for reporting financial mishandling.”

Aliyev and Xsolla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If Xsolla sounds familiar, it might be because cofounder Agapitov laid off 150 of his employees for spending too much time looking at their email. “Work your fucking ass off or get your fucking ass out,” he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) back in 2021. Agapitov even boasted of using AI surveillance to monitor which employees were being lazy before deciding who to cull in the mass layoff.

Earlier this month, Ukraine called on Epic, Ubisoft, and Valve to stop working with the payments platform, claiming Xsolla’s business in Russia helped fund that country’s ongoing war machine. Xsolla interim CEO Chris Hewish told Axios the company had already relocated hundreds of workers out of Russia, though it still facilitated transactions for players there. In the meantime, Xsolla has been using its lucrative business to launch funding initiatives for indie games and snatching up smaller gaming tech companies to provide additional services beyond payment processing, like backend multiplayer support and creator content tools.

Update 11/30/2023 5:37 p.m. ET: Xsolla owner Agapitov told Kotaku in a phone interview that the $40 million loan did not run afoul of any regulations and that Aliyev tried to blackmail the company after being fired. “We hired a liar and fired a liar,” Agapitov said.

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Ethan Gach

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November 30, 2023
The Worst Versions Of The Original GTA Trilogy Are Coming To Netflix Games

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Ahead of next month’s Grand Theft Auto VI trailer, three classic GTA games from the PlayStation 2 era are coming to Netflix’s mobile library in December. These might not be the versions fans actually want ported to more platforms, though, even if some visual improvements seem to have been made.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

We first reported on Rockstar’s plans to remaster GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas for new consoles and mobile devices back in 2021. These remastered ports were finally released as Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition in November of that year on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. While select parts of them looked okay, the games were a mess, with new bugs, broken graphics, and other glitches. The issues were so bad that Rockstar Games did a very un-Rockstar thing and apologized to fans while offering them free copies of the original versions of the games on PC. And while the remastered GTA Trilogy did get some updates to fix its more egregious shortcomings, the games are still not fan favorites. That all being so, I’m not sure many people will be excited about these remasters making the leap to phones.

On November 29, Netflix announced that Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas—all released originally on the PS2 between 2001 and 2004—would be available on mobile phones starting on December 14. As with other Netflix-hosted games, you’ll need to be a Netflix subscriber to play these GTA ports on your iPhone or Android device.

Things look a bit different this time around…

Interestingly, comparing the screenshots of the new Netflix ports to the current console and PC versions of the GTA Trilogy reveals some changes have been made. I noticed this a lot in an early moment in GTA: Vice City. It seems as if the colors have been toned down a smidge and the overall image looks darker and more like the original PS2 version’s.

Screenshot: Rockstar Games / GTA Series Videos / Netflix / Kotaku

If you look carefully, you can still see the remastered Vice City Definitive Edition models and textures, so this is still (presumably) that version of the game.

But it seems someone has gone in and tweaked some visual settings—including the fog, based on other screenshots—to perhaps improve these new Netflix ports.

I’m intrigued by the changes, even if they are minor, as they seem to help the remastered versions of these beloved games look a bit more like Rockstar’s original open-world classics. So I might check these out once they arrive on mobile devices next month. I just have to remember how the hell you play Netflix games on a phone.

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Zack Zwiezen

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November 29, 2023
Among Us Is Crossing Over With Goose Game, Celeste, Undertale, And More

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Indie multiplayer superhit Among Us is bringing together a whole host of other popular indie games—including Undertale, Untitled Goose Game, and Celeste—into one giant cosmetic bundle available to buy in-game until February 2024.

This Stylish Noir-Punk Side-Scroller Is Like Celeste With Guns

Among Us, a 2D cartoonish multiplayer-focused game where players have to figure out who can be trusted and who is a murderous imposter, got huge in 2020 thanks to Twitch. However, the game—developed by small studio Innersloth—actually launched in 2018 to little fanfare. Once Among Us exploded online, the devs dealt with burnout and pressure as they updated and ported it to more platforms. Now, it’s playable basically everywhere and has a large audience that eats up each update—including its latest, which turns it into a greatest-hits collection of indie gems.

On November 28, developer Innersloth announced the “Indie Cosmicube” a new cosmetic pack for Among Us that contains outfits inspired by seven different indie games: Untitled Goose Game, Undertale, Crypt of the NecroDancer, Celeste, Castle Crashers, Alien Hominid, and A Hat in Time. Players will need 7,000 beans—a freely earned in-game currency—to get this pack of cosmetics. Once purchased, they must equip it and play matches to unlock all the outfits and items inside the pack.

“Our team was so excited to bring the stylings of [these games] to life in Among Us,” Innersloth said. “They’re indie. We’re indie. It’s like that Spider-Man meme, but instead of pointing, we’re crying because we love each others’ work so much.”

In total, this new cosmetic pack contains 25 hats, 18 skins, 12 nameplates, 9 visors, and 6 pets. If you do the math, assuming you include the option of not wearing some things, this one cosmetic pack offers up to 8,091,720 possible visual combinations.

Among Us’ new set of cosmetics won’t be around forever, though. Players only have until February 2024 to earn 7,000 beans and purchase the pack before it leaves the in-game store.

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Zack Zwiezen

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November 28, 2023
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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November 25, 2023
The Week’s Hottest Takes, From Scott Pilgrim To TLOU 2

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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.

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

The Scott Pilgrim Anime Backlash, Explained

Image: Netflix

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the new animated series based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, is out on Netflix. The eight-episode series reunites the voice cast of the 2010 live-action movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and is a hilarious blend of the series’ quick wit and well-measured pop culture references. All of this sounds like a recipe for success, right? Well, it’s a little more complicated. Read More

The New Division Game Has A Feature Every Game Should Steal

Image: Ubisoft / Kotaku

Ubisoft’s new The Division game isn’t even out yet, as it’s still in beta testing and won’t launch officially until 2024. But after trying the beta, I already want one feature from the upcoming game to become standard in every video game I play in the future. Read More

The Future Of ChatGPT Just Became A Circus [Update]

Photo: Justin Sullivan / Applle / Kotaku (Getty Images)

OpenAI is the research organization behind ChatGPT, the AI-generated chatbot that took the internet by storm last year for its capacity to have really weird conversations with tech journalists. It’s at the center of Microsoft’s big bet on generative AI tools transforming the world, gaming, and more, and it’s now at risk of imploding after its CEO, Sam Altman, was mysteriously ousted by the OpenAI board of directors and Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear was desperately recruited to replace him. Here’s all you really need to know about OpenAI to appreciate what a clusterfuck the last few days have been. Read More

Kotaku Asks: How Soon Is Too Soon For A Video Game Remaster Or Remake?

Screenshot: PlayStation / Naughty Dog

How much time has to pass before it becomes acceptable to remaster or even remake a game? 10 years? 15 years? What about three-ish years? Is that enough time between the original and the remaster? Well, that’s what’s happening early next year as Naughty Dog is remastering 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. Read More

I’m So Tired Of Crossover ‘Skins’ Cluttering Up Video Games

Image: Xbox / Epic Games / Bungie / Overkill Software / Kotaku

Another day, another big video game crossover. This time it’s Bungie’s online looter shooter, Destiny 2, adding Witcher 3-inspired armor to its digital store. Are you excited? I’m not. In reality, I’m just really tired of every brand mixing together, regardless of whether it makes sense or is needed, as if concocting the world’s worst stew. Read More

Admit It, You Don’t Understand Skill-Based Matchmaking (And Neither Do I)

Image: Kotaku / Asier Romero / Luis Molinero (Shutterstock)

Whenever a new blockbuster first-person shooter drops, gamers limber up so they can once again argue over how multiplayer matches get made and the algorithmic systems that determine who plays against whom and when. The recent release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is no exception—not long after its multiplayer servers booted on November 10, players began flocking to Reddit, X (Twitter), and everywhere in between to complain about the quality (or perceived lack thereof) of Activision’s matchmaking. But, as with so many issues in the gaming industry, there’s a serious lack of nuance and true understanding at play here. Read More

I Can’t Miss The Last Of Us If It Won’t Leave

Image: Naughty Dog

Remember when it took us seven years to get a new The Last of Us game? Remember when there was even a question about whether or not we’d ever get a sequel to Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action game because the ending was so intentionally ambiguous and thought-provoking?

Now, it seems we can’t go a year without being reminded that Sony thinks as many people should experience this series as possible, while folks associated with the HBO adaptation praise the game in ways that border on the absurd. Now, we’re getting a remaster of The Last of Us Part II, and it feels like we’re reaching peak Last of Us fatigue. Read More

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

Open Combat Missions are a fresh idea worth carrying over to future Call of Duty games.

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Kotaku Staff

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November 25, 2023
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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November 24, 2023
A Decades-Old Glitch In Half-Life Has Finally Been Fixed
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A new update for Valve’s first game, 1998’s beloved first-person shooter Half-Life, has fixed an old, small, and annoying animation glitch found in one of the game’s most memorable levels. And fans, myself included, are very excited about it.

Stray Almost Feels Like A Modern Valve Game

The original Half-Life has plenty of memorable moments throughout its campaign. But one of the most famous has to be chapter six, “Blast Pit.” In this level, players are introduced to a big alien tentacle in a still-impressive set piece in which it crashes through a window in a missile silo and drags away a helpless researcher. However, for a very long time now, an animation glitch has made this moment look wonky and broken.

VideoGameCinema / Valve

Last week, Valve released a large 25th-anniversary patch for Half-Life that added in old cut content and new maps, fixed numerous glitches, and even made the game verified on Steam Deck. It was a great patch! However, even after that big update, the Blast Pit animation bug remained. Even after two smaller patches were put out by Valve to fix some minor issues created by the 25th-anniversary update, the Blast Pit bug was still in the game. It taunted players, myself included, who went back to replay the game for the 100th time. A developer who worked on Half-Life even recently commented on the broken animation and joked that it needed to be fixed. And now it finally has after many, many years.

On November 22, Valve released another small patch for Half-Life designed mostly to fix a few more problems the big update introduced. And in the patch notes, I spotted a note that caught my attention:
Fixed timing for the sequence where a tentacle grabs a scientist in Blast Pit.
Could it be? Had Valve finally fixed this tiny error that had lingered for decades at this point? I quickly hopped into Half-Life, loaded up Blast Pit, and watched that helpless scientist get grabbed and pulled away. But this time, he was actually connected to the tentacle and not floating multiple feet in front of it. I might have whispered, “Wow.”

Over on the Half-Life subreddit, players are also celebrating the fixed animation. “Those crazy bastards did it,” one user replied. “That little bug annoyed me so much for some reason, so I unironically consider Half-Life a better game now that it’s finally fixed lol,” posted someone else.

While I’m happy Half-Life is getting so much love from Valve right now in the form of all these updates and fixes, I’m also curious as to why. Sure, it’s the game’s 25th anniversary, so it makes sense to update it.

But things like this make it feel as if a group of devs, or maybe even just one Half-Life superfan within Valve, are on a mission right now, just digging into the game and fixing long-standing bugs. And Valve seems to be okay with it. And you know what, I’m okay with it, too! I salute whoever is responsible for improving Half-Life all these years later.

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Zack Zwiezen

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November 22, 2023