Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was one of my most anticipated games of 2022. I couldn’t wait to play Fatshark’s first-person shooter evolution of the rat-infested melee frenzy that was Vermintide 2. Unfortunately, it had its fair share of issues at launch, from performance frustrations on PC to a lackluster progression…
Source: Kotaku – Troubled Warhammer 40K: Darktide Is Getting A Major RPG Overhaul [Update: And Coming To Xbox In October]
Fort Solis feels like running into a barely-remembered ex at the grocery store—nice to look at and unbearably boring. Through its sprightly voice actors’ sheer will, the third-person adventure game sometimes succeeds in its aim to shock you, to do Mars à la Denis Villeneuve, but its story is overall too bovine and…
Source: Kotaku – Fort Solis: The Kotaku Review
I have been throwing tomatoes at Baldur’s Gate 3’s vague journal for the past month, and that’s because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out ways to complete active quests not realizing that the solution wasn’t going to show its face until I reached a different map entirely. One of the most prominent examples of…
Source: Kotaku – Stop Trying To Reach The Shar Temple From The Grymforge In Baldur’s Gate 3
Years after its PlayStation release and its eventual PC port, Final Fantasy VII Remake still isn’t on Xbox. Final Fantasy XVI ended up being a PlayStation 5 console exclusive as well. When will Xbox fans finally get to play these hit RPGs on their game system of choice? That’s what IGN aske…
Source: Kotaku – When Will Final Fantasy VII Remake And XVI Come To Xbox? Phil Spencer Can’t Say Yet
Disney’s new Ahsoka TV series is, essentially, a Star Wars: Rebels sequel, so you’d expect the new live-action show to be jam-packed with references and Easter eggs. While some of these are so obvious they’re not even worth mentioning (characters like Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, and Hera Syndulla are not references,…
Source: Kotaku – The Best Star Wars Easter Eggs In The Ahsoka TV Series
Blasphemous 2 takes the “2″ in its name quite seriously. Everything in this sequel to The Game Kitchen’s 2019 Metroidvania platformer is expanded: the map and world, the equipment and spells, the puzzling and platforming…even the already-excellent boss encounters are bigger and better. Despite some minor repetition in…
Source: Kotaku – Blasphemous 2 Is 2023’s Most Sickening Metroidvania, And I Love It
Today, Call Of Duty ramped up its recent trend of Fortnite-eque pop culture crossovers by announcing that Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft will be coming to the game. She joins the Terminator as one of the few characters to appear in both Epic’s popular battle royale and Activision’s military shooter series.
Source: Kotaku – Lara Croft Is Coming To Call Of Duty
Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out on PC for a few weeks now, and the mod community has been creating a feast of tweaks and new features for the RPG alongside the already expansive experience Larian Studios has put out. If you’re looking for some cool ways to augment or improve your experience with the game, we’ve rounded…
Source: Kotaku – 14 Baldur’s Gate 3 Mods To Help You On Your Quest
Storied RPG developer BioWare is downsizing. The studio announced on August 23 that it will cut 50 roles as it continues production on both Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 4, telling fans it needed to take a more “agile and focused” approach to game development.
Source: Kotaku – Dragon Age And Mass Effect Studio Lays Off 50 Devs, Claims Games Are Unaffected
Today, in the Year of our Lord 2023, you can pre-order an Atari 2600 replica that Atari calls the Atari 2600+. Slightly smaller than Atari’s original 1977 console, and using modern connections like HDMI and USB-C, the Atari 2600+ will accept many original and recently released cartridges. And yes, it sports the same…
Source: Kotaku – Atari’s New Replica 2600 Console Can Play Classic Cartridges
You could certainly accuse creators within the Star Wars franchise of needlessly injecting their media with heavy doses of fan service, and Ahsoka series creator Dave Filoni might be the guiltiest of them all. There’s a reason a tweet from April 2023 sharing a fake page from a Filoni script that follows the famous…
Source: Kotaku – Ahsoka Episode 1 Review: It Really Is Star Wars: Rebels 2
If you had told me back when the Switch came out that Nintendo would release a major Mario motion picture five years later starring Christopher Pratt, I might have believed you, but I wouldn’t have ever guessed it would go on to be one of the biggest box office hits of 2023. I also would never have guessed that it…
Source: Kotaku – Barbie Fever Blue Shells Super Mario Bros. Movie’s High Score, Takes Over 2023’s Top Box Office Spot Nationally
If you’re a fan of retro shooters, today is a good day. Nightdive Studios has released two trailers for remasters of 2000’s N64 shooter Turok 3 Shadow of Oblivion and the classic 1995 computer FPS, Star Wars: Dark Forces.
Source: Kotaku – Turok 3 and Star Wars: Dark Forces Are Getting Remastered
IIt’s 3:30 a.m., my palms are sweaty, my heart is pounding, and a small mech riding on a tank blows me up for the 11th time. The rubber nubs on my controller’s thumbsticks had started rubbing off long ago, but now they’re completely decimated. The PS5 DualSense was not built for this. Armored Core VI’s demanding…
Source: Kotaku – Armored Core VI: The Kotaku Review
If you’re like me, eyes—and the thought of violence against them—are your greatest fear. How did I get through the eye needle scene in Dead Space 2? By screaming and crying into the phone at my friend who told me to play it. As such, when Volo, the bard who can hang around your camp in Baldur’s Gate 3, offered to try…
Source: Kotaku – You Should Let The Baldur’s Gate 3 Bard Poke Your Eye Out, Actually
Today, Sony delivered some news that’s sure to get PS Vita fans mildly interested: Sony is back in the handheld game (kind of) via a dedicated remote play streaming device that’ll beam pixels from your PS5 straight to your hands. It’s called the PlayStation Portal remote player and it will cost you $200.
Source: Kotaku – Sony’s PS5 Remote Play Gaming Handheld Is Just 0
I got some hands-on time with Samba de Amigo: Party Central, and playing Sega’s long-awaited rhythm game sequel on the Switch was fun enough that I’m sure it will satisfy anyone who likes swinging their arms to the rhythm. Waving the joy-con controllers in time with popular songs like “I Really Like You” by Carly Rae…
Source: Kotaku – I Broke A Samba de Amigo VR Demo By Being A Short King
I’ve only played about a dozen hours of a Yakuza/Like a Dragon game because I swore a blood oath that I wouldn’t play another one of those until a friend of mine played the Danganronpa games, but Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, shows a lot has changed since I Yakuza Zero. The main change being that…
Source: Kotaku – Hands-On: Like A Dragon Gaiden Brings Super Spy Silliness To The Yakuza Formula
After spending time with Persona 5 Tactica, the upcoming tactics-based spin-off reuniting the Phantom Thieves for another adventure, I’m intrigued by how P-Studio has recontextualized long-time mechanics for a different subgenre. I got hands-on time with the game alongside a separate demo of Persona 3 Reload, and…
Source: Kotaku – Hands-On: Persona 5’s Tactics Spin-off Changes Everything, And It Rules
I fucking love Persona 3. On any given day I could say it’s my favorite entry in Atlus’ supernatural teenage life sim RPG series, or at the very least tied with Persona 5 Royal. That’s why Persona 3 Reload, which remakes the 2006 game from the ground up, is such a treat. I spent around 45 minutes with the upcoming…
Source: Kotaku – Hands-On: Persona 3 Reload Remakes The One Thing That Didn’t Need Remaking