Culture

Battlegrounds Players Win Match Without Killing Anybody

I’ve tried winning PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds matches with pacifism. I’ve tried hiding out, talking to other players, and (very unsuccessfully) blocking bullets with a frying pan. I never believed it was actually possible, though. Eventually death—aka the ever-encroaching blue fog of doom—claims us all. Against all odds, however, Kurtjmac and a partner pulled it off. They spent…

Speedrunner Completes Homestar Runner Game In 17 Milliseconds

Speedrunning is all about beating games as fast as possible. One speedrun through a free Homestar Runner web game is so fast that you can literally blink and miss it. Where’s An Egg? is a quick puzzle game where players guide an inspector around on a journey to find an egg hidden on someone’s possession. The…

What We Loved (And Didn’t Love) About Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

There’s a new Guardians of the Galaxy movie! Let’s talk about it. Mike Fahey and I are both avowed fans of James Gunn’s original Guardians of the Galaxy film, and both of us headed to the theater over the weekend to see his follow-up. Did the second outing capture the unlikely charm of the first…

The Art Of Endless Legend & Endless Space 2

Amplitude are the creators of beautiful (and excellent) strategy games like Endless Legend and Endless Space. Today we’re looking at the work of two of their artists. Which means a lot of the stuff you’re about to see is going to look familiar, only bigger, since most of it is only ever visible in-game as…

What We’d Do If We Were Making Destiny Spinoffs

Would you watch an animated series about Destiny bounty hunters before the Fall? Would you play a game where you have to balance Destiny guns? On episode 78 of Kotaku Splitscreen, we answer all these questions and more. During last week’s show, we reached into the mailbag and took out some questions from listeners, including…

Track: Nardis (Live) | Artist: Bill Evans Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

In Battlegrounds, The Troll Might Be ON The Bridge

Today on Highlight Reel we have bad Mimics, Mario Kart comebacks, Hitman killings, and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Sleeping Dogs –Don’t Wreck…

Steam just added a widget that helps shed light on why the store is showing you particular games. It’s not crazy in-depth or anything, but it does demystify the processes underlying Steam’s increasingly important algorithm a little bit. Check out Valve’s full post for the reasoning behind this addition.

Someone Already Beat Prey In Less Than 20 Minutes

Yesterday, speedrunner DraQu beat the sci-fi shooting sim Prey in just 45 minutes. Today, he’s knocked it down to 20. This is a game that has been out for three days. You’re safe to watch the first few minutes without spoiling too much, just to see how he pulled it off. The short version: DraQu…

Röki, An Adventure Game About The Deep Dark Woods

Röki is an upcoming adventure game about a girl who heads out into the wild and runs into a lot more than just some deer and snow. It’s the product of Polygon Treehouse, a new studio founded by two former art directors at Guerrilla Cambridge. The game is due out in 2018. While the stills…

Track: Heisei Pain | Artist: Go! Go! Vanillas | Album: Heisei Pain (Single)  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Wonder Woman Cosplay Is Here To Save The Day

This is Panteronaas the new DC’s cinematic take on Wonder Woman. Photos by GK Studios

The Week In Games: Back For Blood

They just don’t make first-person shooters like they used to. Except for Strafe I actually don’t really remember how they used to make video games. Firing laser beams at motherboards? The 90s are almost two decades old, so who knows what they were really like, but the uber-violent shooter-throwback Strafe seems like as good an…

Podcast: Should Nintendo Make Switch VR?

Should Nintendo make a VR peripheral for Switch? What would Kirk and I do if we were put in charge of Bungie? Get the answers to those questions and many more, on today’s Kotaku Splitscreen I just started Nier: Automata, so Kirk and I talk about that for a bit (7:17) before jumping into the…

Track: Four Seas 四海 | Artist: Howie Lee | Album: Homeless EP  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sunday Comics: Mario And Friends 

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics that usually occurs on Sunday except when it doesn’t. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published May 2. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 1. Read more…

Slime-san Is A Lo-Fi Platformer That Wants To Sweep You Off Your Feet

Slime-San is the type of twitchy, lighting-quick platformer I‘m happy to spend hours dying in. Filled with micro levels similar to Super Meat boy, the fourth project from the New York studio Fabraz takes the labyrinths of classic games like Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country and condenses them down into a single screen…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for usually writing some funny thing here about your weekend and then also mentioning video games, but you’re playing Prey for review so that’s all you’ve got. I’m playing Prey. I streamed some of it earlier today and it was a lot of fun, though I wish the mimics would jump like…

Legendary Mario 64 Record For Collecting All The Stars Finally Broken

For years, speedrunners have been trying to collect 120 Mario 64 stars in under 1:40:00. People have come close, but nobody was able to break the barrier—until now. Allan “Cheese05″ Alvarez just earned his place in Mario 64 history by collecting all the stars in a record 1:39:57, as you can see below: To understand…

Watch Someone Speedrun Portal Without Using Any Portals

Speedrunner 097AceOfSpades beat Portal in 52 minutes using no portals and a lot of airboat cheats. Usually, Portal takes about three hours to complete. And, as the title implies, you complete it by using portals to solve the game’s tricky puzzle-based campaign mode. 097AceOfSpades relies on one main hack to get through the game sans…