Team Fortress 2 got a big content update yesterday, July 12, and it’s got players flocking to the hero shooter in such numbers that a new concurrent player record has just been set for the game, 16 years after it first released.
Source: Kotaku – Team Fortress 2 Hits New Player Record After Big Update
We’re done with half of 2023 and many of its fantastic horror games, though there’s more on the way (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alan Wake 2, and the Silent Hill 2 remake are still due out). That means we’ve willingly subjected ourselves to lots of stone-cold death scenes—enough to compile in a list, which we’ve done…
Source: Kotaku – 2023’s Best Horror Game Death Scenes
Anime art styles are always changing. Shows like Astro Boy and Urusei Yatsura drew influence from Western art styles (particularly that of Disney) in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. Shows in the late 80s to early 2000s were influenced by their predecessors, creating a distinct style that was easily recognised by global…
Source: Kotaku – Exploring The Art Of The Anime Noodle Arm
We’ve been to Melbourne, we’ve been to London, now our cosplay showcase is off to Germany for coverage of this year’s Dokomi, which went down June 30-July 2 in Dusseldorf.
Source: Kotaku – Our Favorite Cosplay From Dokomi Germany
A Twitch streamer is using a real-life dunk tank during his livestreams to motivate himself to avoid falling in the tricky precision platformer and livestreaming sensation, Only Up!
Source: Kotaku – When This Twitch Streamer Falls In Only Up!, He Falls Into A Dunk Tank IRL Too
Naughty Dog, the developers behind The Last of Us and Uncharted, is about to undergo a pretty big shakeup in leadership. Co-president Evan Wells has announced he’ll be retiring, and co-president and Last of Us director Neil Druckmann will be the sole president of the company moving forward.
Source: Kotaku – Neil Druckmann Takes Over Naughty Dog After Co-President Of 25 Years Retires
Gothic indie darling Vampire Survivors will be—please accept this pun—completely revamped after it receives a round of updates on August 17. That day, the roguelike bullet hell will receive co-op mode and the Steam version will move over to a new engine.
Source: Kotaku – 2022 Favorite Vampire Survivors Is Almost A New Game After This Upgrade
WrestleQuest is a breath of fresh air, packed with all the makings of a phenomenal wrestling game as well as all the wacky hijinks of a fantasy-action RPG.
Source: Kotaku – This Upcoming Pixel RPG May Be The Best Wrestling Game Of The Year
The 75th Emmy Awards revealed its nominations on July 12, and a video game adaptation is one of the most nominated shows of the year. HBO’s The Last of Us, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, has 24 total nominations, second only to HBO’s other powerhouse show, Succession, which has 27. The third-most nominated…
Source: Kotaku – The Last of Us Is Sweeping Emmy Nominations This Year
What could make miniature towns and trains even more endearing? Obviously cats, the internet’s answer to everything. You know, just let them loose to do what they want inside a tiny town that they tower over. I really enjoy this idea in concept and, it turns out, practice, as that’s the concept behind a cute TikTok…
Source: Kotaku – TikTok Account Makes IRL Cats Look Like Godzilla On Model Train Tracks
In 1984, a game was released for the Apple II that was totally unlike anything that had come before. Casting you as a martial artist who must infiltrate a warlord’s castle fortress, Karateka had breathtaking animation that was far more lifelike than anything that had preceded it. It also set new standards for martial…
Source: Kotaku – One Of The Most Important Games Ever Gets The Release It Deserves 40 Years Later
Baldur’s Gate 3 is less than a month away for PC players now that developer Larian Studios has pushed its release date up a few weeks. On August 3, players will head to the fantasy world of the Forgotten Realms (or Faerûn) where they’ll face their imminent demise at the hands of a mind-controlling parasite. But what…
Source: Kotaku – Baldur’s Gate 3 Is A Massive RPG And That’s A Big Deal Right Now
Link’s challenge in Tears of the Kingdom is to take down a grand evil threat to save the world of Hyrule. But while many players choose to take on the game’s final boss, Ganon, with a traditional means of sword fighting, others have taken to finding more clever, rather humiliating forms of foiling Ganon’s plans.
Source: Kotaku – Tears Of The Kingdom: Fans Are Killing Ganon In Embarrassing Ways
Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion is closer than ever to becoming a reality after the companies defeated the Federal Trade Commission in court this week. While the FTC can still appeal, all eyes now turn back to regulators in the UK, that last thorn in the tech giant’s side as it seeks to…
Source: Kotaku – Only One Thing Still Stands In The Way Of Microsoft’s Activision Takeover
On reflection, it’s bizarre how much Nintendo underplayed Tears of the Kingdom’s fusing abilities. Completely hidden in the earlier trailers, and really only vaguely hinted at before release, this addition of crafting to the Breath of the Wild sequel has been fundamentally game-changing. It’s also led to some…
Source: Kotaku – Tears Of The Kingdom Players Keep Doing Things You Didn’t Know Were Possible
Diablo IV is a big video game jam-packed with hundreds of hours’ worth of gameplay. Making a game this big isn’t easy, and takes a lot of people. In fact, according to the credits, over 8,500 people worked on Blizzard’s massive sequel.
Source: Kotaku – Over 8,500 People, The Population Of A Small Town, Worked On Diablo IV
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals plays something like a thematic flip of its excellent 2016 predecessor. Where the original game followed a teen named Alex and a group of her friends on a coming-of-age adventure that had the group confronting a nebulous future, Lost Signals finds 30-something Riley Poverly feeling stuck in…
Source: Kotaku – Oxenfree II: Lost Signals: The Kotaku Review
Lego Half Life 2 is a mod that does exactly what the name suggests. Created by Not Dave or Daniel, it takes the classic first-person shooter and turns it into a LEGO game, complete with bricky inhabitants.
Source: Kotaku – LEGO Half-Life 2 Is Now Playable On Steam
Diablo IV is a game about keeping evil locked behind the gates of hell and making the numbers go up. Kill enemies, get stronger, kill more enemies, get even stronger. This is the endless cycle at the center of Blizzard’s hit action-RPG, but recently players have managed to take that logic to its absurd conclusion,…
Source: Kotaku – Diablo IV’s OP Druid Build Does 2 Billion Damage
Ladders! They are a lot like stairs, but flat and vertical and without any steps. Actually, wait, I guess they aren’t that similar to stairs. I guess I’m not a ladder expert! And it seems plenty of video game characters are similarly not very good at ladders. It’s okay. We all have our flaws.
Source: Kotaku – Please Enjoy The Silliest Game Ladder Climbing Animations We Could Find