Single-player video games
How To Defeat The Tough-As-Nails Dualliste In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
You might’ve caught a few vibes here and there that the good folks at Sandfall might’ve had a Souls game or two on the brain while designing Clair Obscur. But right around here is the point where reasonable doubt gets kicked off a skyscraper, because the Dualliste is the most Souls-game shit ever. It’s a…
A Beginner’s Guide To Maelle In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Usually in an RPG, when you think “absolute assbeating swordwielder” in a video game, you picture the likes of Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, Auron from FFX, or even someone like Hulkenberg from Metaphor ReFantazio. What you’re usually not thinking of is a tiny befreckled orphan girl who wins the Mia Goth soundalike contest. The…
Creepy Horror Series Rusty Lake Celebrates Its 10th Birthday With A Surprise New Game And Film
It all began with Cube Escape back in April 2015. Two mobile games were released simultaneously, Cube Escape: The Lake and Cube Escape: Seasons. Each, at first glance, appeared to be part of the current trend for both digital and real-world escape room games, in which you solved puzzles to set yourself free from some…
This Compelling Time Travel Adventure Is A Must-Play
Seven years ago, Wadjet Eye Games released Unavowed, a point-and-click adventure that took the industry by surprise. Incorporating ideas from BioWare RPGs, this was a game in which the companions you took with you for any mission changed not only how the puzzles were solved, but how the story was told. It was magnificent, and…
8 Things To Know Before Starting Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a lot of moving parts in its turn-based battle system. Though the RPG does a decent job of introducing things to you slowly, by the time you have a full party, you’re juggling pretty distinct characters with bespoke playstyles and trying to find some way to make them fit together….
The Hundred Line Is Danganronpa And Zero Escape’s Final Form
When Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape director Kotaro Uchikoshi joined forces to found Too Kyo Games in 2017, I was curious to see just what the two legends of so-called “death games” would create together. But although the team has put out several games in just under a decade, none of them have…
Psychonauts Is 20 Years Old, So Let’s Remember An All-Time Classic
One of the stranger moments of my career was reviewing a game, giving it a four-page review and a well-deserved score of 89 percent in the then-massively-selling UK PC Gamer magazine, and then the game not coming out for another eight months. That was just one example of the nightmares Psychonauts—Double Fine’s magnum opus—went through…
Remastering Recent Games Is A Pointless, Sisyphean Task
Leaks yesterday revealed screenshots from the still unannounced but imminently releasing remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Today, other leakers say Bethesda is also working on a remake of Fallout 3. This happens the same month the PC received The Last of Us Part II Remastered, meaning we can only be minutes away from…
South Of Midnight: The Kotaku Review
Many games are set in America, but few truly feel American. And I don’t mean that most games lack patriotism or red, white, and blue banners. I mean that, while they may use the country’s landmarks, stars, and cities, and even make reference to its politics, they don’t truly engage with American culture. South of…
12 Years Late, This Kickstarter-Funded Tribute To A Legendary Adventure Game Series Is A Complete Disaster
In 2012, renowned developers Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe launched a Kickstarter to spiritually revive their classic Space Quest series, a game to be called SpaceVenture. Some 13 years later, following numerous delays and botched half-launches, the game has finally arrived on Steam. And oh no, it’s so bad. But before we confront its awfulness,…