I rarely watch a video game trailer more than once. Still, with Bungie’s Marathon reboot/sequel/whatever, I found myself looping its sleek, sleek trailer. It’s not just because the trailer slaps, but because Bungie teases seems to be one of the coolest shooters released in years.

On March 24, shortly before a Spider-Man 2 trailer set off an all-new “puddle“, Bungie (Halo, Destiny) has revealed its next great first person shooter: Marathon. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s actually Bungie returning to one of its oldest franchises, the Mac-only shooter trilogy, Marathon. You can read more about these ancient games, their beloved lore, and how it connects to Halo and modern extraction shooters in this piece from our very own Claire Jackson.

However, I’m not here to talk about lore, history, Marathon fandom, or anything related to the Bungie mythos. No, instead, I just want to gush for a few paragraphs about how refreshing and impressive the look and trailer of this game is compared to most other shooters and games available today. And I don’t seem to be the only one loving this trailer as it has already reached 18 million views on YouTube.

PlayStation / Bungie

Marathon has one of the best game trailers of 2023

From the moment the the intense electronic music of the trailer starts at the beginning, I was engaged. Then we see someone in a radiant-looking sci-fi outfit running through a tunnel, while shots of brightly colored robot insects create complex android-like beings. What’s going on here? I don’t know, But did you just hear that sick piece in the music?

Either way, the running character exits the darkest tunnels and enters an incredibly bright world where we see he’s also sporting vibrant colors, including a glowing neon pink helmet. The music builds as the camera zooms closer and closer to the runner. Things seem tense as the music turns into a digital mess, then BAM! That’s all she wrote for this racer as they are pulled from afar by a slick, paper-white looking android. Our now-dead runner is seen collapsing in slow motion into what appears to be a milk-like substance, their inky blue blood mixing and swirling in the water around their corpse. As the robot sniper snatches something from the dead runner, the music plays back, fades out and BAM! Bungie Reveals This Vibrant Trailer Was For A New Marathon.

“Vibrant” is really the key word here. Everything in this trailer pops in a way that I haven’t seen in most other shooters released in recent years. Many modern shooters seem focused on realism, which can be beautiful, but also a bit lackluster. The popular color scheme that we typically see on shooters is also starting to mix up shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Or they all look a little too much like Fortnite, which, while colorful, is no longer visually distinct. I really appreciate these modern shooters despite everything. But with Marathon, things are different.

In fact, it’s more than colorful. It’s almost garish with all of its pinks, yellows, greens and blues clashing in almost every image. Yet everything is balanced by hyper-realistic lighting, materials, textures, and models. The color palettes are amazing to look at and a few of us at Kotaku couldn’t help but watch the trailer.

Marathon’s new art style is fresh and bold

Bungie calls Marathon’s art style “graphic realism,” as mentioned in a recent behind-the-scenes video about the rebooted shooter. Bungie developer Emily Katske expands on the game’s art further, saying it’s “bold, colorful [and] stylized.”

Game director Christopher Barret, in the same video, also says that the team wanted the art to be “beautiful” and “vibrant”, “mysterious” and “familiar”, “but also weird”.

Bungie

Normally, I’d roll my eyes a bit at this kind of conversation, but after seeing the trailer and concept art for this new version of Marathon, yes, I get it. Balance is key, however. Bungie needs to carefully balance when and where to “compose [things] up to 11 inches and when to step back a bit so people don’t get overwhelmed trying to play.

It’s a risky option, taking a beloved franchise and reworking it into something bold. It’s also quite different from the original Marathon games, which featured more sober or grimy textures and Doom-like sprites. I’ve already spotted longtime Marathon fans upset with this more colorful and stylized new direction. And until we actually play the final game, we won’t know if any of this will actually work. Was it a big, costly mistake? Or a huge bet that lands perfectly? No idea!

But the trailer, concept art, and overall style of Marathon have me more excited than I thought to play this upcoming extraction shooter. I’m not even a fan of this kind of online FPS, but I want to see more Marathon so badly that I’ll give it a try. As long as I can waddle around Bungie’s amazing new world for a few minutes before I get killed, I’ll be happy to play and explore Marathon on every outing.

Ever since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released on May 12, fans have been obsessed with the game’s new crafting abilities. With Link’s new skills, including Fuse and Ultrahand, players are build nonsense like planes and tanks to commit war crimes in the kingdom of Hyrule. But there is one thing people can’t help but create: dicks, dicks, shlongs, penises, wangs; you understand.

Learn more: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Players take forever in the massive tutorial area

Critics called the sequel Breath of the Wild a certified classic, which makes excellent use of the Switch’s aging hardware. And with Link’s many new rune abilities that allow him to combine items or rewind an item’s place in the world, people are letting their imaginations run wild. Like, really wild.

Hyrule Kingdom can’t escape the dicks

Link gets a whole new suite of runic abilities in TotK that replaces his old BotW abilities. So say goodbye to things like Magnesis and Stasis and instead say hello to things like Ascend and Autobuild, two skills that allow Link to glide through solid surfaces and instantly build previous creations. respectively. Fuse and Ultrahand are mixed together, abilities that give Link the power to combine items to create anything from giant mechs to pickup trucks. And while people are totally building these things, many players here are flooding Hyrule Realm with dicks. So many cocks, in fact.

You’ve got flamethrower, thick cocks, cars that look like dicks, cock rockets, cocks with rocks for balls-The list goes on and on and on. Hell, Twitter user HKSIcabb even had our Hero of the Wild ride a dick…a raft.

Meanwhile, hideyopo made a wheeled mecha monster that sprayed a patch of hyrulean grass with his water-squirting dick.

What is going on? Why are TotK fans just days after launch stuck on dicks? There are some interesting theories, like a Freudian fear of castration or the idea that it’s all a dick measuring contest. Glamor wrote in 2017 that dick drawings are actually about toxic masculinity– which is not so surprising. Even Kotaku pondered this question in a blog from 2013, speaking to developers and psychologists about why dicks are everywhere in games. And even though we’ve come to the conclusion that drawing a dick is “pushing the limits”, there’s another simpler answer here: dicks are fun.

They are (mostly) hairy and (sometimes) curved. They come in different shapes and sizes and more often than not function as if they have a mind of their own. They are bizarre, serving both comedy and sexuality. And as Maxim wrote in 2015, dicks are fun for “despite what they mean, there is no real place for them in the world, and yet they are there”.

Learn more: Tears Of The Kingdom Could Include The Zelda Series’ First Gay Character

These are facts. Because no matter where you look online, from TikTok to Reddit to Twitter, there’s a TotK dick. They are almost unavoidable now. At least Autobuild’s other abilities, Fuse, Ultrahand and Link can be used for something other than genitals –although players use them for torture. I guess our weird code nature hero is actually nature’s war criminal. Whoops.

It’s May 12, 2023, and on this beautiful day, Nintendo’s much-hyped sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, finds itself in the eager hands of gamers around the world. But you: Maybe you stand out. Maybe you didn’t end up playing the previous game, 2017’s hit Breath of the Wild. Or maybe you touched it and fell for some reason. I won’t judge, I’m here with you.

Now here you are, seeing all those cool trailers and…interesting things you’re jumping into the new Zelda game and wondering, “Should I play Breath of the Wild before Tears of the Kingdom?” Should I?” Well, that’s what I’m here to help you understand.

A series purist will always say to go back and play the games in the correct order (which, if you’re considering how long Zelda has been around, you might want to be careful with that line of thinking). But here I will lay out some pros and cons for each action plan. There are valid reasons for either approach, so let’s go.

By the way, this article is a spoiler-free zone. So feel free to keep reading even if you haven’t touched 2017’s Breath of the Wild.

Is the Breath of the Wild story worth living before Tears of the Kingdom?

Breath of the Wild tells a very average fantasy story. Hold your farmer’s pitchforks; I’m not saying that to put him down. In general, the overall story beats are very familiar to almost anyone who has experienced a joint from Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. You have your dark lord, your threat to peace, your amnesiac protagoboy, your magic items of power, rinse and repeat. Watching a short recap video would be enough to give you a general idea of ​​BotW’s plot, and you won’t be missing out on an all-time great epic if you do.

Learn more: Catch up on Zelda: Breath of the Wild before the sequel in under seven minutes

How Breath of the Wild tells its story, however, is something you might want to consider living through, not just via synopsis. Link’s journey to regain his memories has led him to meet countless charming and memorable characters along the way, which will get you much more emotionally interested in Hyrule’s bigger story (as simple as that is) and the people who live there only if you just blow. through a summary.

If you’re just interested in a SparkNotes brief overview of Hyrulian history, a wiki or video will do. But if you enjoy the experience of meeting interesting characters and gaining a greater emotional investment in a fictional world, jumping into Breath of the Wild first will be time well spent.

Does Tears of the Kingdom make Breath of the Wild gameplay obsolete?

We’ve all been there: first you play a sequel, then the original just seems old in comparison. Some sequels improve on their predecessor so much that it’s hard to go back. Mass Effect 2 is an example. Skyrim may be another.

First of all, no: Tears of the Kingdom certainly has its share of quality of life improvements, as in fast travel and cooking– but nothing as earth-shattering as Breath of the Wild suddenly feels Neolithic in comparison.

Tears of the Kingdom does not make Breath of the Wild gameplay obsolete. Image: Nintendo

As for whether or not they feel too similar, never fear. While very similar in some ways, Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are distinct enough that going back to the old game after Tears of the Kingdom would still give you plenty of new experiences to enjoy.

Learn more: Zelda: Tears Of the Kingdom fixes some of BotW’s failures

As my colleague Kenneth Shepard told me after his early hours in Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel’s gameplay is “less of an evolution and more of a sidestep.” Link’s new abilities, especially the crafting and new Ultrahand abilitymake it a distinct enough experience that if you play them in reverse order, you won’t feel like your abilities have been greatly reduced.

Tears of the Kingdom is a looker – and it won’t melt your Switch into plasticky goop. Image: Nintendo

Tears of the Kingdom looks graphically daunting for the old Switch, so should you wait for future hardware?

It’s no secret that the aging Wii U wasn’t too kind to Breath of the Wild. And basically, anyone who saw the first footage of Tears of the Kingdom was a little nervous wondering if the humble Nintendo Switch, released over six years ago, might be able to keep up.

Learn more: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Switch performance feels like a minor miracle

Well, I have good news. Or rather, Digital Foundry has good news: Tears of the Kingdom will work damn well on your old Switch. You can expect a very close to solid 30fps with a few drops here and there, especially when using Link’s new Ultrahand ability. Fast loading times are also quite fast, around 30% faster than in BotW.

Nintendo / Digital Foundry

I hear you thinking, “surely there’s another Nintendo console on the way, isn’t there?” The Switch has been out for a while, that’s true, but as we reported on tuesday 9th mayNintendo has no plans for a hardware refresh or follow-up to the Switch in 2023.

Learn more: Nintendo says it’s not expecting a new Switch this year either

And no, I have no idea what a “You Zoo” is.

How long is Breath of the Wild?

Say you don’t mind waiting for the game everyone’s talking about right now and that you’re cool to jump into Breath of the Wild first. Can you expect to knock him out in a weekend? Well no.

Breath of the Wild is a long game, and every moment is worth it. Image: Nintendo

According Howlongtobeat.com, the main story of Breath of the Wild is around 50 hours long. What if you want to do all the side quests? You’re looking at just under 100 hours. If you’re a completion fiend, HLtB estimates 189 hours. Our own experiences confirm these numbers.

Breath of the Wild is a game of massive proportions. The world is huge and there is so much to do. If you haven’t played it yet and you’re really interested in seeing the release of Tears of the Kingdom to see what this whole Link thing is all about, expect to have to set aside some time for BotW if you’re jumping in first.

Even if you’re not a finalist, stepping into the world of Hyrule in Switch’s first Zelda title is an experience best enjoyed at a gentle pace, and you won’t feel worse for taking time to let everything sink in.

So yes, BotW is long. Which is good, because it’s a great game.

While some franchises can enter at almost any time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild offers compelling reasons to give it a shot first. The plot consists of standard fantasy concepts, but is told very memorably and in a sight-rich open world that is a joy to explore.

But, if you decide to jump straight into Tears of the Kingdom, a brief summary or two of BotW’s story beats will get you up to speed quickly. And with the differences in gameplay, playing the two games in reverse order shouldn’t feel too strange.

Order aside, another question is whether you should play the old game. You may feel differently, but my personal view is that Breath of the Wild is a truly wonderful experience, from the well-told story with satisfying gameplay, and a truly vibrant and beautiful world to explore, that you owe it to yourself to play this modern classic if you haven’t already, even if you’ve already spent a good few hours in it. Tears of the Kingdom.

Twitch streamer and YouTuber Simply attempted the unthinkable: giving himself just 12 hours, he set out to learn the tricky speedrun from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nail one as quickly as possible. . The speedrun challenge was insane, full of death and glitches to make for a hilarious and entertaining watch even if the feat wasn’t exactly accomplished as expected.

Learn more: Breath of the Wild’s hottest new Speedrun is getting all the hoes

BotW speedruns are absolutely cracking. According Speedrun.coma site that tracks speedruns for various games, the fastest time for Nintendo’s 2017 hit was set earlier this month and currently stands at just under 24 minutes by BotW speedrunner Player 5. This was for the any percent challenge, an achievement in which a player strives to roll credits as quickly as possible without worrying about completing any main quests or side activities. There are other speedrun categories that add extra stipulations to the bet, like hitting all dungeons or shrines, but sometimes you just want vanilla, you know? (Unless you’re a Limcube speedrunner, which recently collected all the hoes strewn around Hyrule in less than 30 minutes because he was just bored and desperate.)

All this to say that simply, a speedrunner who ran a few Super Mario 64s categories over the years, wanted to see if he could beat BotW as fast as he could, vanilla. In other words, he attempted a run at any percentage of Link’s latest adventure. However, to give this vanilla a bit more flavor like a French vanilla or a vanilla bean, he simply added an extra challenge to the mix: achieving a solid time in the open-world action-adventure game as newcomer to the category any percentage of 12 hours or less. The results were fun and have now been edited into an entertaining half hour video that really makes you feel the struggle of Simply.

Simply’s quest to become “the best speedrunner ever”

In April 18 YouTube video, Start simply by explaining how BotW works with any percentage of speedruns. You start by collecting Link’s Runic Abilities like Magnesia and Stasis from the four main shrines of the Grand Plateau so you can grab the Paraglider for air travel. From there you book it to Hyrule Castle to cheer the four Scourge Ganons of existence before taking down the big bad himself, Calamity Ganon. I simply had to learn a plethora of glitches, shield clips to enter shrines faster For the BLSS technique to fly over the Grand Plateau, to complete his timed challenge, all with the goal of becoming “the best speedrunner ever”. But learning was the hardest part here.

Merely

Simply died a handful of times trying to skip the intro section of the game. However, using scope clip And whistle– two issues that lock the game into its day cycle and preserve Link’s stamina, respectively – he was able to leave the early shrine and skip the first cutscene. From there, Simply picked up their first gear (after a few more kills, of course) to continue cracking BotW with glitches. With the help of the aforementioned BLSS technique and shield clip issue, alongside the movement of the wind bomb which launches Link several feet into the air, he simply gathered all four rune abilities to then grab the old man’s (aka King Rhoam) paraglider at the Grand Plateau tower. It was already about three hours into his 12-hour challenge. So he sent it back to see if he could do that sequence of events in under 35 minutes. The movement of the wind bomb made him back up a bit. So, too, made a death. Unfortunately, he didn’t finish in less than 35 minutes, but he was still having a good time. Just four hours into their 12-hour challenge, Simply had plenty of time to beat the game.

Limcube entered the chat to help Simply with his speedrun

Limcube, the noted BotW speedrunner responsible for March’s all hoes challenge, sought to give Simply some pointers to finish his speedrun, which only gets more difficult as you fling yourself to Hyrule Castle and the fight against Calamity Ganon ahead. After collecting mushrooms to cook up some Mighty Mushroom Skewers, which buffs Link’s attack damage for 13 minutes, simply used the BLSS technique to infiltrate Hyrule Castle, dodging all the guards patrolling the area. He picked up weapons with higher durability in hopes of making future fights a little easier. Unfortunately, they weren’t easy enough, because despite the coaching he received from Limcube, including how to perform a glitch to easily kill Windburn Ganon, Simply dead. A lot.

Now, normally, casual players would have completed all four Divine Beast dungeons to halve Calamity Ganon’s health. At this point, you’d probably also have more than three hearts so Link could survive more than one hit in the final encounter. But Simply was learning the all-percent route, which, in the interest of going fast, does none of that. So not only did he have to fight all four Blight Ganons in a row, but he also had to defeat Calamity Ganon at full health, a tall order for even the most skilled BotW players. I’m sure you can guess what happened. If you can’t, then let me tell you: just dead. Again and again and again, each attempt slightly better than the last. He simply completed the challenge, of course, but not in 12 hours or less as he had hoped. Instead, Simply’s last time to learn and complete a run at any percentage was around 12 hours and 40 minutes. His total speedrun time? Just under five hours. It’s not the fastest BotW speedrun, but hey, at least it did, and it’s probably faster than most of us could have too.

Kotaku has reached out to Simply for comment.

Learn more: Breath of the Wild’s greatest stuntman is back, and better than ever

I love stuff like that. The determination it takes to push through despite the insurmountable, if self-imposed, challenge before you. It’s amazing to see, especially considering that Simply could have given up on the feat once the going got tough. But he did not do it. It’s a good reminder that anything can be done if you try hard enough…and get a little coaching from a speedrunning master.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is almost here, and at first glance the enigmatic faction called Zonai could play a big part in the sequel after mostly existing in the background of Breath of the Wild. If you feel like you walked into something or missed a big storyline in the last game, don’t worry. Despite many theories being hatched over the years, even the biggest Zelda fans don’t have many concrete details about who or what the Zonai were. But let’s break down what we know and why fans think the Zonai are becoming a key player in Tears of the Kingdom.

What do we already know about the Zonai?

In Breath of the Wild, the Zonai are depicted as a tribe that no longer exists within Hyrule, but their nature is apparently up for debate in the game world. They are depicted as both a savage tribe of barbarians , as well as strong magic users who worship animals, especially Farosh, a water dragon that can be found in places like the Gerudo Highlands. Traces of their existence can be seen in places like the Zonai Ruins in the southern area of ​​the map, with long-abandoned architecture hinting at their reverence for Hyrule’s wildlife. In the story and art book The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion, it is revealed that the animals that feature prominently in what remains of Zonai’s house refer to the three rooms of the Triforce: a dragon for Courage, an owl for Wisdom, and a boar for Power. Beyond the animals, the Zonai also have their own spiral-like crest, seen on architecture associated with the tribe.

Beyond that, Link can acquire Barbarian armor in Breath of the Wild that is said to have been worn by members of the Zonai long ago after navigating specific labyrinths believed to have been built by the tribe. While it all fits together, much of what we know about the tribe is speculation fueled by the game’s ambient storytelling. It’s a very minimalistic, FromSoftware-style approach to world-building and largely rewards those who want to explore the big game world. However, it could pay off for all of us in Tears of the Kingdom.

Nintendo of America

Why do fans think Tears of the Kingdom will involve the Zonai?

Theories that the Zonai would be a major player in Tears of the Kingdom have been rumored since the game’s reveal in 2019 due to the emphasis on the spiral pattern at the heart of Zonai architecture. However, the connection is much more concrete now thanks to the latest gameplay showcase. During this stream, Nintendo revealed that the Zonai were tied to the events of Tears of the Kingdom via a piece of loot. In the 10-minute gameplay trailer, Link defeats an enemy in the Sky Floating Islands and drops an item called Zonai Charge. The video doesn’t dwell on the object, but it clearly has the same green energy seen powering up the machine-like enemies Link is fighting, the (broken) seal around Ganondorf seen in the original trailer, and the Link’s corrupted and shiny arm.

Will we encounter the Zonai in Tears of the Kingdom?

Given Nintendo’s silence regarding the story of Tears of the Kingdom, it’s hard to say whether or not Link will encounter a member of the Zonai tribe. Given that the group seems to have disappeared entirely from Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, with the only information we have about them coming from theories and their remaining architecture, it seems more logical that the Zonai were wiped out or went into hiding. . But even so, their technology and magic are still present and causing problems for our hero in Tears of the Kingdom. That being said, it’s not entirely out of the question that some survived and waited for the events of this game to unfold. The series is also no stranger to time travel, as it’s a key mainstay in games like Ocarina of Time and Oracle of Ages. So there’s a chance that Link could come face to face with the Zonai during their prime, but it’s unconfirmed.

Wait, how does Twilight Princess play into all of this?

Like most of the possibilities discussed here, the connection between The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Tears of the Kingdom is still speculation, but fans believe they have found connections between the Zonai and the Twili, which were introduced in Twilight Princess. . Breath of the Wild incorporates multiple tribes and species of life from the series, from the Sheikah to the Zora. The Twili, however, are notably absent, but given the similarities to the architecture and magic seen in Tears of the Kingdom and that of the Twili, fans believe the Zonai might be the original race that were turned into monsters by Zant in Twilight Princess. There are even breakdowns of iconography and sigils throughout Breath of the Wild which look a lot like the images from Twilight Princess. It’s all theory at this point, and Breath of the Wild itself doesn’t do much to make this possible connection directly apparent. So don’t feel like you’ve completely missed out on a potential connection. That’s all the fan interpretation, for now.

Whatever the Zonai are, it looks like they will at least be part of the larger Tears of the Kingdom setup. Whether we’ll encounter one remains to be seen, but we’ll find out when the game hits Switch on May 12.

Strategy specialists Paradox had a big day today, wrapping up a slew of new projects slated for release over the next two years, including new games and expansions to existing games.

CITIES: SKYLINES 2 ANNOUNCED

Biggest news first: Cities: Skylines, the world’s first city builder and a game that’s kind of eight years old now, gets a sequel. The first trailer is unfortunately entirely cinematic, so there’s not much to take from it, but the accompanying press release has a little more information:

A modern take on the city-building genre, Cities: Skylines II lets players create and maintain cities that come to life like never before, with fully realized transportation and economy systems, a wealth of options construction and customization and advanced modding capabilities. . Revealed during the Paradox Announce Show 2023Cities: Skylines II evolves the city-building genre, allowing players to build the cities of their dreams with the most open-ended city-building sandbox on the planet.

OK, so it’s not. It doesn’t really tell us anything either, especially what it’s going to do that we can’t already do in Cities: Skylines. Ah well, at least it will be prettier! Maybe!

Cities Skylines II | Trailer I

CRUSADER KINGS III: TOURS AND FILMING

Crusader Kings III is getting a new expansion called Tours and Tournaments, which, like the game’s latest major update, Royal Courtfocuses more on the character and the RPG side of the game than on its broader strategic content.

There’s a lot more info on it herebut basically:

By gathering an entourage, selecting options for your journey, and hiring a Caravan Master, you are ready to hit the road and travel to activities across the world. The travel system is integral to the activities, with the host and guests traveling to reach them – creating a stronger sense of place when you see your route mapped out and your character moving directly across the map.

The expansion will add three major events for you to travel: Grand Tournaments, Grand Weddings, and Grand Tours, each of which allows you to strut around your kingdom, meet people, and give the player even more menus that appear asking you to choose a dialogue/action choice.

It will come out at the end of spring.

Crusader Kings III: Towers and Tournaments – Trailer

THE LEAGUE OF LIGHTERS

It looks cool ! It’s a whole new thing, a “turn-based tactical strategy game set in an alternate 1933”, which is a longer way of describing what was surely its elevator pitch, which is “It’s Indiana Jones x XCOM”.

The League of Lamplighters – Trailer

Since this trailer contains no gameplay, here’s a second:

The Lamplighters League – First Look at Gameplay

The game is expected to release on “PC and Xbox Series X and S consoles in 2023”.

EUROPA UNIVERSALIS IV

The venerable strategy classic Europa Universalis IV gets its 2168th expansion with Domination, which “features new mission trees, new government reforms, new domain management, and new events for several of the game’s great powers.”

This means that powers like Britain, Spain and France have been given “new life and balance, with greater historical depth, more promising rewards and branching mission trees so that the choices of players can have a dramatic impact on the course of history”.

Europa Universalis IV: Domination | Trailer

Paradox also made a bunch of smaller announcements for smaller titles, like a Surviving the Aftermath expansion and “Mechabellum, a sci-fi auto-battling game where players take on ever-growing armies of mechs, robots, and heavy weapons”. which you can view here.

At Kotaku, we get a lot of tips by email. Some are spam, some are hateful messages filled with errors, and a few are serious allegations that require serious investigation. So it’s refreshing when something comes up that just points us to something fresh and cool, as was the case with a recent boot fashion tip from the house. Like a dragon: Ishin! developers, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.

A development subdivision of Sega with roots dating back to 1998, Ryu Ga Gotoku (“RGG”) is a Japanese studio responsible for the 2012 third-person shooter Binary Domain. However, you’re probably most familiar with RGG’s most important work, the Yakuza series. Since 2012, RGG has been in charge of the action-adventure franchise, developing new main entries and remastering old ones while assembling spin-offs such as the Judgment series and the latest remake, Like A Dragon: Ishin!

It was this latest game, which was originally a Japan-only release in 2014 before making its global debut earlier this week, that was the subject of the advice email we received this week. In love with editor Alyssa Mercante “fashion legend” of The Game Awards bland dripthe reader (whose name we decided to keep hidden) said we should check this making-of of the video Like A Dragon to see “cool costumes”.

Learn more: The Best Fits at The Game Awards 2022

“I loved the fashion caption and The Game Awards follow-up article and 40 seconds in this video about Ryu Ga Gotoku making the next game Like A Dragon, there’s an amazing promotional photo of the staff,” said the reader in an email to Kotaku. “I guess if you’re in charge of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, you’re basically obligated to wear a cool costume.” And they don’t lie! RGG is literally setting the entire industry back in one fell swoop.

SEGA Asia

In the first episode of a multi-part series on Sega Asia’s English YouTube channel, we get a quick look at RGG’s fashion sense. Japanese fashion is quite captivating if you follow it. Filled with flowing silhouettes, wild colors and patterns, and an interesting mix of casual and smart aestheticthe inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun know how to dress. RGG is no exception. Sure, the suits the developers are wearing about 40 seconds into the video above are all black, but the nuance is in the details. Two staff members have jackets with interesting markings: one with a variety of white dots and another with many small crosses. A different member of staff has a coat with tastefully accenting white lines. Three other staff members have all-over designs, with two of the staff members’ costumes having a nice shine. If you told me it was an alternative J-Rock band and not a video game developer band, I’d believe you.

Even the developers’ boots, while indefinable on the surface, really add to the developers’ collective drip. Most in the photo have round shiny pointed toe boots without laces like they all just came out of filming The Matrix or something. Two others mix things up a bit, one staff member wearing what appear to be Dr. Martens lace-up round boots (but maybe not that exact brand) and another apparently wearing very dark boots, maybe Suede. Either way, RGG’s cuts are on point! I may not be the fashionista that Kotaku’s Alyssa Mercante is, but I, too, gag at the confident simplicity that RGG exudes in their almost matching looks. It’s great to see, especially in an industry known for some of the most predictable (graphic tee and blazer) outfit combos ever.

Learn more: Like a dragon: Ishin! : The Kotaku Review

Anyway, kudos to RGG for killing the entire industry in seconds with both their killer mode and their even more killer samurai game, Like A Dragon: Ishin! In fact, writer Sisi Jiang called it “the best samurai game you can play right now.” You should take a look at it.

The recently released Dead Space Remake is a triumph among video game remakes, many of which have not been well received by fans in recent years. And as a huge Dead Space fan, I’m so happy to see EA throwing money at the franchise again, with great results. But, I can’t help but think of a Dead Space game that EA buried and most forgot. This game is Dead Space mobilea fantastic handheld horror game that desperately needs a second chance.

Let’s travel in time. It’s 2011, a few years after the original launch of Dead Space in 2008. Dead space 2 fate and alongside it another entry in the franchise. But this game will not be released on consoles or PC. Instead, the confusingly-named Dead Space (often called Dead Space mobile online) is coming to iOS and Android devices. At the time, I wondered: how good could a Dead Space mobile game be? Then I played it and discovered that it wasn’t just a good mobile game, it was a great standalone horror game!

Set before the events of Dead space 2, dead space mobile tells the story of Vandal, a new recruit to the spooky space cult seen throughout the franchise. Vandal is sent to Titan Station, the setting of the sequel, and unwittingly triggers the Necromorph invasion on the space base that Issac must manage later in the console game. The rest of the Dead Space mobile involves Vandal trying to fix this huge piece of shit, getting evidence against the cult, and helping the people aboard the station escape. I won’t spoil its twists, but it’s an engaging, tense horror adventure that will take most players around two to four hours.

EA / Longplay express

What really makes Dead Space mobile so good is that the developers behind the game designed it from the ground up to be a mobile game. For example, to grab or interact with the world, you just need to touch the thing or flick with your finger. No virtual button is needed. When aiming at the iconic Dead Space plasma cutter, you tilt your phone slightly to flip the laser from horizontal to vertical. It sounds finicky, but in practice it works well even in some of the later areas that throw loads of nasty monsters at you.

Not only does it work well, but it looks so different from today’s big mobile games, which are often covered in virtual buttons and joysticks and look like they were built with a controller or keyboard in mind, and then worn on a phone. Instead, Dead Space mobile feels right at home on your tiny phone or tablet.

If you play Dead Space mobile with headphones in a dark room, you can quickly forget you’re playing a pint-sized mobile link and get sucked into the game’s dark hallways and spooky atmosphere. phone games scared the crap out of me and Dead Space mobile is on this shortlist. Even with its slightly chunky graphics and limited lighting, this mobile rendition of Dead Space was still a taut little masterpiece that worked with its limitations and didn’t fight them.

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Sadly, this is the part of the story where I have to explain that Dead Space mobile is currently not available on either iOS or Android. In 2015, EA has removed the game from digital stores and it has become unplayable on newer devices over the years.

Now, if you own an Android device and know what an APK is and where to look, you can still technically enjoy Dead Space mobile in 2023 thanks to some nifty and dedicated fans. But if you don’t, you’re out of luck, and it’s a shame such a gem of a horror game was left for dead by EA.

Dead Space mobile (2011) Screenshot: EA

However, there may still be hope for mobile Dead Space. I can confirm that the game runs fine on modern phones with some fan-made tweaks. So it seems possible that EA will spend the money and re-release Dead Space mobile on newer phones. But even better than that: EA should also take the time to launch Dead Space mobile on consoles and PC. Of course, this might require some tweaking and some very low resolution assets might need to be swapped out, but it would be worth it. This would bring the game to more people and ensure that Dead Space mobile is no longer left behind, as a PC version can more easily be tweaked and updated by fans for years to come. And while I think Dead Space mobile looks great on a phone, I think it would still look damn good on a controller. Or even the Nintendo Switch!

With the Dead Space remake doing so well, it seems likely that a Dead Space 2 remake could follow and the mobile game fills in some important holes in the series’ timeline, so a re-release seems even more necessary than ever.

Unfortunately, with the recent news of EA killing mobile games, it seems unlikely that the publisher will even fund a small-scale remaster of Dead Space mobile anytime soon. But if that happens, I’ll be there, ready to spend the money to buy and play this fantastic horror game again.

I was warned of how heated Kotaku’s GOTY arguments traditionally get when I first started here in November, so I was a little nervous when I was put in charge of organizing and tabulating our list of the best games of the year.

Would everyone vote? Would they get mad at me for ranking Destiny 2: The Witch Queen too high? Would Ethan Gach actually do what he was threatening and “hobgoblin” the voting process by adding negative points to the equation?

Turns out, however, that even though organizing this entire process was a pain in the ass, the team at Kotaku is exactly as opinionated, intelligent, and professional as you might expect, offering great insight and honest takes on the top games of 2022. Though we voted on over 20 titles (including ones that narrowly missed this list like Rollerdrome and Sifu) we narrowed it down to a top 10, and have ranked them in order below.

How does Kotaku’s top 10 games of 2022 stack up with your personal GOTY lists?

10. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Image: Monolith Soft / Nintendo

Reductively, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story is an amalgamation of Japanese RPGs whose emotional climax rests on the age-old theme of “war is bad.” Nevertheless, the fact that the trope has become a well-trodden cliché doesn’t dismiss how well developer Monolith Soft executes its anti-war theme throughout Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s 150 hours of playtime.

Read More: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Is A Genius JRPG Vision That Began 25 Years Ago

In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you play as a troupe of child soldiers from warring nations locked in an endless battle where their limited lifespans fuel a giant mechanical clock once they meet their untimely demise. The kids are not alright. But despite the painful emotional journey its child soldiers must go on, which is portrayed with the emotional maturity and complexity it deserves, the game is not without some great moments of levity as well, courtesy of some lighthearted and silly sidequests. Meanwhile, Xenoblade’s more serious sidequests drip-feed players with rich character studies that flesh out each member of the party, along with the game’s expansive world and its deep cast of supporting characters.

Although Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was snubbed for the best roleplaying game and best soundtrack at Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards, it did give us an impassioned flutist performance from Pedro “Flute Guy” Eustache. This shows that even if Xenoblade loses at gaming’s glorified popularity contest, it still provides some of the best moments in gaming this year.

Isaiah Colbert, Staff Writer

9. Signalis

Image: rose-engine

Much like how I use Devil May Cry 5 as the measuring stick for how good a hack-and-slash game is, whenever I brave playing a survivor horror game I do so with the hope that its story measures up to Silent Hill 2. Big shoes to fill, I know. Signalis not only manages to fill those shoes, it damn near tore the seams off of them joints with how bloody good it was. I’d even argue that it’s better than Silent Hill 2.

Signalis has all the bells and whistles that make for a good sci-fi survival horror game. It’s got a brutal-but-fair limited inventory system, brain-teasing puzzles, and breadcrumb storytelling conveyed through codex entries scattered about its levels. However, where Signalis sings is with its gripping story about two lesbian androids desperately trying to find each other in a space hellscape.

Read More: Signalis Is A Grimy Exercise In Survival Horror, And I Love It

Throughout the game, you play as an android named Elster who’s stranded on an alien planet rife with horrific monsters and derelict spaceships. Elster’s sole mission is to reunite with Anne, a fellow android unit she both literally and figuratively can’t live without. Signalis sticks its landing with the emotional climax of Elster’s perilous journey, regardless of which of the game’s multiple endings you arrive at. This feat is even more impressive considering Signalis is the first video game made by its two-person development team, rose-engine. Ay yo, 2023, can we get some more of those sapphic survivor horror vidya games, plz?

Isaiah Colbert, Staff Writer

8. Norco

Image: Raw Fury

Norco emerged this year and joined Kentucky Route Zero and a few others on the shortlist of games that speak deeply to the experience of living under late-stage capitalism in America at this precise moment in time. Like Cardboard Computer’s masterpiece, Norco also takes its cues from point-and-click adventures, using stunning pixel art to pull us into its industrialized Louisiana landscapes. And where KR0 lent its midwestern road trip a heaping helping of magical realism, Norco uses near-future sci-fi elements to cast the forces its poor, marginalized characters face in sharper relief.

Read More: A Stunning Southern Dystopia Is One Of The Best-Written Games Of The Year

But don’t let my easy comparison make you think Norco is a pale imitator of another game. It’s very much its own remarkable experience, one with its own visual identity, its own poetic voice, and its own noir-ish mystery. Everything about Norco rings painfully true, from its observant little environmental details like the electrified hum of a street light, to the much larger way that religion, cryptocurrency, and the oil industry all become woven together in the haunting texture of your character’s search for her missing brother. Norco, Louisiana is a real place. The Norco of this game is not quite that place, but it’s nevertheless one that feels very real in its own way, and that will leave you reeling from the piercing gaze it levels at the world we’ve made for ourselves.

Carolyn Petit, Managing Editor

7. Horizon Forbidden West

Image: Sony

Poor Aloy. Twice now, her adventures have been somewhat overshadowed at the time of release by other games that more dramatically captured the world’s attention. Her first outing, Horizon Zero Dawn, launched just a few days before Breath of the Wild. This year, her second quest was followed a week later by Elden Ring.

But despite repeatedly serving as the opening act for games that go on to sweep the GOTYs of a hundred gaming sites, Guerrilla Games and Aloy can be proud of what they’ve accomplished. Arguably the most visually stunning game of the year, Guerrilla’s latest takes Aloy into the ruined American west for more of the thrilling, spectacular battles with hulking metallic beasts that helped make the first game an original in a sea of samey open-world blockbusters. And although the larger narrative may fly a bit off the rails in this outing, Forbidden West wisely stays focused on Aloy’s personal journey as someone who feels the weight of the world on her shoulders and doesn’t know how to let her guard down and allow her friends to carry that burden with her. It complicates her character and trusts us as players not to turn on her the moment she behaves in ways that are arrogant, cruel, or misguided. Oh, and you get a really sweet new travel option near the end of the game, too.

Yes, when all is said and done, Aloy and her escapades can stand tall alongside the Links and the myriad Tarnished of the world.

Carolyn Petit, Managing Editor

6. Neon White

Image: Annapurna Interactive

It was about 3 in the morning. I had plans the next day. I really needed to go to bed. Yet, here I was hunched over my computer focused on shaving just one more second off a level in Neon White so I could beat a friend on my leaderboard. That’s the power of fast-paced, FPS platformer Neon White. It’s the kind of game that feels so good that you just can’t stop playing it. Once you get skilled enough to start finding shortcuts in levels, it’s over–the game has you at that point. You’ll end up going back to old levels you thought you mastered to shave off more time. And if you enjoy anime nonsense, angels, demons, and sick-ass music, too, then Neon White will dig its angelic claws deeply into you and never let go. “One more run…and then I’ll go to bed.” I didn’t get to sleep that night until nearly 4:30 am.

Zack Zwiezen, Staff Writer

5. Citizen Sleeper

Image: Jump Over The Age

The profane and sacred mingle with delicate grace in Jump Over The Age’s minimalist cyberpunk RPG about trying to earn your humanity from a world that can’t pay its debts. Every detail from the writing and art to the branching choices and tabletop-inspired dice rolls connect, overlap, and reinforce each other with precision and care so that no piece is weaker than the rest and no rough edge is left exposed. Few games manage to evoke universal feelings or personal truths, but Citizen Sleeper does both at the same time. The future never felt so hopeless and yet so comforting.

Ethan Gach, Senior Reporter

4. Marvel Snap

Image: Second Dinner / Kotaku

Going into 2022, I don’t know how many people expected a free-to-play Marvel card game designed for phones to end up being one of the best and most popular games of the year, yet, here we are. Second Dinner’s fantastic bite-sized card battler, Marvel Snap, really is one of the best digital card games out there right now thanks to its small decks, fast rounds, and random nature. Matches always feel different and even a loss doesn’t sting too bad because it’s over so fast. Sure, it’s still a free-to-play mobile game, so you can expect stuff like iffy over-priced bundles and having to grind for currency. But luckily Marvel Snap is so fun to play that it’s pretty easy to overlook those bits and enjoy one of 2022’s best games.

Zack Zwiezen, Staff Writer

3. Vampire Survivors

Image: poncle

One more run. A sentence I’ve repeated countless times in 2022 either in my head or quietly aloud to justify playing Vampire Survivors for just a little while longer. The gothic roguelike shoot ‘em up became a surprise smash hit while spawning worthy spiritual siblings like 20 Minutes Till Dawn.  

Since Valve started releasing the data in August, Vampire Survivors has been tops in total hours played on Steam Deck month in and month out. This is the same Steam Deck that can run frickin’ Elden Ring! But people want to play Vampire Survivors instead!

All those players are onto something, Vampire Survivors has a simple yet satisfying gameplay loop: your character (I’m partial to Peppino) must survive an ever-growing horde of ghoulies while choosing between randomly generated weapons. If you make it to 30 minutes, the reaper will come calling, which lets you spend coins on power-ups for future runs. You can be strategic in choosing weapons that complement each other or you can just try shit out! These elements of discovery, relentless isometric top down action, and Vampire’s lax attitude towards player death (it has zero impact) remind me a lot of Hades, another regular on that Steam Deck most-played list, and another GOTY contender from years past.

Vampire Survivors’ developer Luca Galante/poncle has regularly been updating the game since it left early access, adding modes, quality of life improvements, and settings to tweak for extra replayability. What’s more, the game recently got its first full-fledged DLC the other week with Legacy of the Moonspell. With the base game retailing at five dollars ($4 under the current Steam sale), Vampire Survivors makes for one of the better bang-for-your-buck propositions in gaming. Go ahead and treat yourself to some floor chicken.

Eric Schulkin, Video Lead

2. God of War Ragnarök

Image: Sony

Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarök is more of everything. More abilities and weapons. More enemies and locations. More characters and plot details. Hell, even more loot. Though you could interpret this as a knock against the game, especially since more isn’t always better, Ragnarök takes the “more” and deftly applies it in tasteful ways while making room for a compelling narrative and gameplay experience that’s enjoyable and immersive. Combat is crunchy, exploration is intriguing, dialogue is captivating, and the themes are deep and engaging. But what stands out as the glisten on the diamond is the character development between daddy Kratos and adolescent Atreus, an element that sees the co-protagonists finding common understanding in the face of the end of the world. Sometimes, it takes things falling apart for empathy to be reached, and God of War Ragnarök is a glowing example of just that. It’s good shit.

Levi Winslow, Staff Writer

1. Elden Ring

Screenshot: FromSoftware / Kotaku

Are you surprised? Elden Ring easily and inevitably took the top spot during our voting process, further proving that 2022 was the year of Elden Ring. Many Kotaku staff members ranked it as their number one game of the year, and for good reason. FromSoftware’s open-world epic feels like a giant leap forward for the Souls-like franchise, offering us a beautifully deformed and dangerous Lands Between to explore, rife with opportunities to discover oddities, collect goodies, and die over and over again.

Elden Ring opened up Hidetaka Miyazaki ’s sick, twisted world for the normies who haven’t enjoyed FromSoft games before it, while also making sure to still cater to the hardened vets looking to prove their worth in incredibly tough battles. It found a perfect balance between that punishing gameplay so many long for in a game from this studio and a newfound sense of agency, of a chance to get gud without having to run into the same noxious swamp over and over again.

Elden Ring is technically impressive, visually stunning, and satisfyingly challenging. It has humor, it has sadness, it has turtle popes. It dashes your hopes up against a jagged rock only to hand you hope back bit-by-bit as you strengthen your character and your resolve. It is everything that we hope for in a video game, and then some.

Image: Yoshitaka Amano/Square Enix

Front Mission is a excellent strategy RPG series who deserves to return. It’s the grittier, darker, futuristic cousin of Final Fantasy Tactics that replaces swords and wands with submachine guns and half-erased giant mechs slamming it into a jungle ditch. Some of that charm shows up in Front Mission 1st: Remake, but the revival is mired in decades-old gameplay shortcomings and a lack of new quality-of-life features that don’t do much to help the Square Enix classic. to shine in 2022.

Released today on Nintendo Switch, Mission before 1st: Remake puts you in the shoes of a disgraced soldier-turned-mercenary named Lloyd Clive who searches for his lost fiancé in the midst of a brutal war between two superpowers. In the not so distant future, rival continental powers use giant robots to fight for control of a tiny island in the Pacific. The conflict takes its toll on local civilians as megalomaniacs within the ranks use the fog of war to pursue their own ends.

Each side has its own meaty campaign, and to understand the full scope of the conflict, intrigue, and stakes, you’ll need to play both. It’s not a game you necessarily play for the characters and plot twists, but the story is still compelling and dark and provides a great backdrop for some very granular robot combat. And the Switch version’s overhauled 3D visuals make it look much more modern, even if the gameplay hasn’t aged as well.

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

As fire emblem Where Advanced Wars, Front Mission 1st: Remake’s combat takes place on a square grid where units move across the firing range, attack, succeed (or fail), then regroup. But unlike many other strategy RPGs, this game spreads the damage over four parts of the robot’s body. Destroy an arm and the target loses access to the weapon it was holding. Break the legs and he won’t be able to move that far. Finish the core and everything will explode.

What makes things even more complicated is the fact that you can’t really target a specific part. Instead, attacks have a random spread and also have a good chance of missing completely. The result can be exciting upheavals when you’re lucky, but more often than not a lot of tedious trial and error. You can take down an enemy unit with two attacks or go several turns without killing blows while they hit you with powerful counterattacks.

Between battles, you can customize the build of each robot in your party. Want a long-range threat? Add shoulder rocket launchers and a bazooka. Need a juggernaut to get in there and soak up the damage? Add tons of armor and focus on close range weapons. Each mech has a weight limit based on its parts which affects how far it can move in a given turn, while pilot stats like dodge and melee increase their effectiveness in certain situations. These stats increase based on what pilots are doing in combat, and there’s plenty of room to tinker with group loadouts at the margins. At the same time, just pouring some cash into the latest upgrades is usually more than enough to get the job done.

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

There are a ton of cool ideas here, but all of them feel held back by the limitations of the past. Five hours later, that’s my biggest issue with Front Mission 1st: Remake: It’s a good game that could be much better, but the new version is mainly focused on updating the presentation rather than the underlying mechanisms. Its $35 price tag speaks to that uneven middle ground – more than just a remaster but not quite the premium price of a full reboot. It’s a quiet disappointment.

Like Tactics Ogre Reborn before him, 1st is a remake of a remake. The game was released on the Super Famicom in Japan in 1995 and then came to North America via a PS1 port in 2003, which was later ported to the Nintendo DS. Other than the visual refresh, remixed music, and better camera navigation, most of the game remains as it was decades ago. This means that there are still frustratingly few options for truly customizing units and strategy on a deeper level than choosing between short-range and long-range trade-offs or min-maxing between accuracy and damage.

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Even at the menu level, things can still feel unnecessarily outdated. You can’t access your inventory when equipping mechs at the shop, and you can’t see how damaged a unit is during battle when deciding to counter an enemy attack with a weapon or shield. There’s no way to speed up the general pacing of battles outside of disabling movement and combat animations, which are actually the most satisfying part of the game. And there’s no way to rewind neither are turns.

It might seem unfair, but it’s hard not to draw a comparison to Tactics Ogre Reborn, which Square Enix also just released a few weeks ago. Yes, Tactics Ogre is a better game, both narratively and mechanically, but Reborn has done a lot to rebalance combat and refine unit progression to focus on what worked in the original game and put side which was not working. It has a 2X speed mode and a rewind function, the latter of which can be a lifesaver when you make an obvious mistake and don’t want to start a long fight over again. Tactics Ogre Reborn also has full voice acting, another feature that 1st Reborn really could have benefited from.

What 1st Reborn has going for it are crisp 3D visuals that retain the tactical view while making rivers, foliage, and cityscapes look dynamic and detailed. Front Mission has never been a pretty series, but it looks decent here, especially compared to the pixelated look we’ve seen from Square Enix’s other SNES remasters. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make up for how tedious the fundamentals of the game can get, which is a shame because I’ve always liked the more granular detail and calculation that goes into Front Mission’s combat mechanics. I just wish it had the same refresh in 1st Reborn as the graphics.