My favorite moment in Skin Deep, an immersive sim and stealth game about rescuing cats and fighting your evil clone in deep space, was always the one immediately after a thoroughly developed plan inevitably went sideways. The skittish way that I was forced to sprint and crawl under a table or into a vent. The manner in which my strategy devolved into simply batting things off of shelves in order to incapacitate a roaming guard
"From the start, the core vision was a buddy-action experience where you would control two distinct characters with a single controller," Pragmata director Yongchee Cho tells me. The team explored giving protagonist Hugh a small drone that aids him in combat, but once the developers landed on the android Diana as a second protagonist, this idea evolved into the hacking system. This created various layers of gameplay that all happen at once, and when coupled with the mysterious narrative and various locales warped and twisted by Luna Filament, the name Pragmata makes a lot of sense.
BetterVR is a newly released mod for the Wii U-emulated version of Breath of the Wild that lets you play through the entirety of the game through the eyes of Link himself. You'll need a copy of Breath of the Wild on Wii U, a somewhat powerful PC, the Cemu emulator, and, of course, a virtual reality headset like the Meta Quest 3. But if you have all that, you can now virtually explore Breath of the Wild in a whole new way.
First things first: This is not a comprehensive feature of all the best video games of 2025. Loyal readers of this site will know that we don't "cover the waterfront" when it comes to games, usually choosing to focus on games with what could be called cinematic influences or ties to films/TV like " Resident Evil," " The Last of Us," and " Uncharted." For this feature of the best
Throughout the events of Promise Mascot Agency, I was Pinky's ride. Anywhere that she needed to go, I had to ferry her in my crappy little truck. As a matter of fact, I was responsible for the transport of any and every mascot that stumbled through the doors of the Promise Mascot Agency and came under my employ. When Kofun needed to go to a nearby graveyard, I was the guy for the job.
The holiday celebrations continue as we step into a new week with a catalog reshuffle at The Division 2 vendor shops. The last week of 2025 brings new gear sets, brand sets, weapons, and mods to choose from. Found at all major settlements across DC, New York, and Brooklyn maps, these NPCs are your go-to sources for Proficiency level rankup or loadout minmaxing. This article lists all the items that are available from The Division 2 vendors from December 30, 2025, to January 6, 2026.
The creator economy gives, and it can also take - suddenly. That's one lesson behind the abrupt exodus of talent from the esports and marketing company FaZe Clan last week. Building a business led by an influencer or celebrity can make you a boatload of money. Just ask the teams behind Kim Kardashian's Skims or George Clooney's Casamigos tequila, which both crossed $1 billion in value.
As artificial intelligence has seeped more into daily life, it's been met with a mix of acceptance and repulsion. The technology has been used to modify photos and improve productivity, but it has also threatened jobs and created havoc with the truth. When it comes to video games, players abhor AI. It's associated with slop and the deluge of nice-looking but cheaply made games. That has created a hunger for authenticity.
The thing that surprises me most about these personal GOTY lists, which I've been doing most years since I started working at Kotaku (including in the delivery room for my third child), is just how little I remember them after they go up. I could guess what was on the 2020 list, or the 2018 one, or my very first one from 2016, but I would probably get half of them wrong.
Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter from Embark Studios so, a game where you deploy into a map full of other players and do as much shooting and looting as you can before making an escape. This is my first real go at the genre, and it's excellent. It has smooth, only occasionally cumbersome combat, sound design that scratches the brain just right and robotic enemies that genuinely terrify. And it satisfies my constant need to sift through my inventory and rifle through every drawer.
YouTuber compiled all his findings in the Teraleak into a feature-length video that goes chronologically through 's development files dating back to 2022, shortly after work on Legends: Arceus had wrapped up. Some files are from so early in the process that Game Freak was using Legends: Arceus ' Irida as a placeholder for the player. These screenshots and videos show some cut content and features, like additional building interiors to explore, being able to use overworld abilities around Lumiose City ,
What do you think of when you think of a woman in pain? There are no tidy universalisms here, but for many of us, even most of us, pain is private and domestic. You could think of a mother shouldering burdens alone while her husband is at work. The father in the waiting room while the mother screams with strangers. A woman going to the doctor about an ache, only for him to tell her to lose weight and deny the problem is even happening.
Game eldest daughter played the most: Just Dance 2024/Horizon Zero Dawn/Pikmin Can't you pick just one? It's not my games column. On her phone, meanwhile, she's been playing Cityscapes and trying to find decent healthcare. In the game? In real life. Overwatch respect. Photograph: MJB/Blizzard Game middle son played the most: Overwatch I don't play games on my phone. He was offended that I even asked him that question. I respect that. Resident Evil Biohazard. Photograph: PR Company Handout
See, Cast n Chill is a fishing game with an idle mode; if you don't feel like actively playing it yourself, you can just have your little pixel-art fisherman work the rod and the reel all by himself, catching some fish and selling them for cash so that, when you do come back to the game, you've got some more money to spend in the bait and tackle shop on new fishing rods, boats, licenses, and so forth.
I Can't Stop Thinking About Silent Hill f's Brilliant TwistOur Favorite Games of 2025 (That Didn't Make Our Top 10)New Tomb Raider Should Go Back to What Made The Original's So Great11 Best Games You Missed In 2025GameSpot's Top 10 Games Of 2025Crisol: Theater of Idols - Dev Doc 2: "Meet Your Foes" TrailerFallout Season 2 Continues To Be One Of The Best Video Game Adaptions
Earth Directorate Commander Ash was sent to settle a labor strike issue on behalf of Auntie's Choice, in an effort to gain favor with the corporate conglomerate. A bit of an outlaw, and someone who excels in shooting, lockpicking, and smooth-talking, I felt like my character was primed to work out a result that was favorable for the workers without too much of an issue.
I remember telling my coworker I had to leave, recognizing that he instantly knew what I had learned; I remember seeing a sunset so beautiful that words don't do it justice, as if grandma was telling me, "I'm better now," on my way back to the hotel, where I'd spend hours crying, wishing I could see her one more time, wishing I could squeeze cancer like a rotting orange, ridding this earth of its putrid juices.
Though this glitch isn't exclusive to one of the randomly selected Hyperspace maps, this odd attack pathing does seem to occur most frequently on the one that has a mostly open field with one or two large scaffolding structures on the edges of the area. These maps are made up of the "dreams" of Lumiose City citizens, so they manifest as distorted images of the actual metropolis, mashing together different areas with no rhyme or reason.
But FromSoftware delivered with . It didn't just successfully nail multiplayer Elden Ring Nightreign Elden Ring; it produced an entire new mash-up of genres that I wish more games would try to experiment with. Do you need close friends to get maximum enjoyment? Sure. But unlike some of the friendslop turning heads out there this year, Nightreign's magic goes far beyond capturing hot mics and silly moments.
The DIY starts off by creating a 3D printed shell (using a light curing printer, printing for a week) that houses the 10-inches electroluminescent LCD TV that emulates the warm glow of the original Game Boy. The choice of the display makes sense as the soft glow illuminates the pixels that otherwise would look too harsh on the big display compared to small screen of the Game Boy.
This year marked the first time all three major gaming hardware companies Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have handheld devices on the market. And they're not the only ones. A holiday survey conducted on behalf of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) found that 16 per cent of kids asked for gaming handhelds like the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck portable computer for Christmas gifts.
This article was originally published on Dec 26, 2017. To pass the time, I've been playing 2016's Doom on the Switch. I tend to lose myself in a game or two every holiday season, but never before has one clicked like this-let alone one that I've previously beaten on another platform. I've come to the inescapable conclusion that Doom is the ultimate holiday game. Let's run down the reasons.