Single player deduction game for folks who want to scratch the Avalon/social deduction itch. You can join the playtest to get instant free access

Ascension Level 4 - with 5 corrupt characters is my current skill ceiling. 1 drunk, 2 from pooka, 1 from poisoner, 1 from plague doctor.... its rough!

I've got 9 hours in the game now, can't recommend it highly enough

Another year, another Evo. While there were no stories quite like Hayao and "Evo Moment 38" this year, there were still plenty of great tournaments to be had. I'm quite partial to Guilty Gear Strive, and top 8, as usual, was full of inventive uses of the game's systems and characters to come up with clever plays that surprise even the likes of me, with hundreds of hours in the game. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 had its largest tournament to date, and Capcom vs. SNK 2 was in the extended lineup. It's great to see those passionate communities still playing those games 25 years later, even with plenty of new blood, though I will admit that both games fall into a situation where the top tier characters are so dominant that you don't get a lot of variety in character selection in top 8, which can dampen the excitement a bit. I also had a great time watching Killer Instinct top 8 in the extended lineup, and at least until Invincible Vs comes out, there's no other game out there with the kind of mind games it employs around combo breakers.

In Mortal Kombat 1, SonicFox won to become an 8-time Evo champion (across 6 different games), just 1 win behind the record held by Justin Wong. Somehow, even though every hit in Mortal Kombat does chip damage, lots of those final matches came down to a "magic pixel" of health left, and that's very rare for that game. I'm not much of a Tekken fan, but even I know that Arslan Ash is a force to be reckoned with, and including his Evo Japan wins, he now holds 6 Evo wins. GO1 got his second Evo win, this time in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and his opponent sure had some feelings about it. I don't know how much of this was a bit and how much was genuine, but it was funny regardless.

I wasn't in attendance myself, but some of the better photo ops trickled through social media, like this man who (speaks softly and?) brought a big stick. Also, here's Daigo Umehara, famous for "the Daigo parry" and "Evo Moment 37", sitting down at the Moment 37 Experience.

Plus, we got plenty of reveals. Here's a list courtesy of Jason Fanelli at GameSpot. Highlights include the first showing of Virtua Fighter 6 gameplay in a training room, a teaser for C. Viper, and the character trailer for Lucy in Guilty Gear Strive. They also teased a Guilty Gear Strive 2.0 patch for next year. I'm a big Strive fan, and I have no idea what this means; even my guesses aren't very convincing. Marvel Tokon got a closed beta announcement for September on PlayStation 5, and a lot of new gameplay came out for it. Most of my concerns (hitstun decay, incentives to tag characters, etc.) were alleviated from watching it, and now I'm quite excited for this one! Except it will still probably require PSN, so I doubt I'll be able to play online. Hopefully I'm wrong though! Even more exciting for me is the upcoming Invincible Vs, made by the team that originally made Killer Instinct 2013 for Xbox One. It will have similar combo breaking mechanics, and it looks much faster paced than the likes of Marvel Tokon or 2XKO. They announced that they're adding motion inputs to it, to accommodate people who felt like 8 buttons was too many, but hopefully they don't add some sort of drawback to using the standard inputs, like so many other games do; I want a motionless game that I'm excited about to not functionally make the motions mandatory by way of making them more optimal. Anyway, Omni-Man was announced as a playable character for the game; I know nothing about Invincible's source material, but even I knew that he was required to make the core roster, so no real surprise there.

Anything you'd like to add? Put it in the comments! I might have to go to Evo next year; I haven't been since 2022. We could have somewhere between 3 and 5 tag fighters on the official roster next year, which would be wild, and between those and Guilty Gear, I'll have plenty of games to sign up for and compete in.

Right now, I don't have a PC. Long ago, when I did have one, the first AAA game I ever played was Red Dead Redemption 2. I have played other games, but I feel like RDR2 surpasses all of them and is legitimately one of the greatest games ever made. The amount of details dedicated to realism, the solid storyline, the amazing graphics, NPCs getting angry/creeped out when you follow them for too long, and the hilarious antagonistic insults. I can just go on and on about this game. This is undoubtedly Rockstar's best achievement yet, and I can't wait to see how they top it with GTA 6 releasing next year.

Today's game is Uncharted 1. I kind of had to put this together after being in a situation where I only had my PS3 on hand but not my PC. So I played some more of this game out of the selection I had on hand. I forgot how difficult this game can be at times compared to 4 or even 2 and 3.

This specific section is the one that has given me the most trouble. I kept getting flanked by an enemy with a shotgun. Couple that with the game's awkward choice of shoulder buttons to aim and shoot and it's like trying to fist fight with tic tacks. I got through it after like 4 attempts though and made my way into the catacombs.

And these damn catacombs have me on edge, because I know I'm inching closer to when those damn zombie things appear. I just don't know exactly when they appear so I'm always on edge waiting for one to spring out and maul me to death. Still though, I feel like I have a bit to go. I'm not sure though.

Here's a link to buy Devotion, https://shop.redcandlegames.com/app/devotion

You fell in love with a game and it's characters, sunk hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours into it. It became a comforting, immensely satisfying part of your daily life. Then you heard a sequel was coming and got really hyped but when it came out it was utter rubbish...

Which game(s) was that for you?

Love crossover characters in fighting games. Lucy fits right in the 3D anime style.

Like, the series isn’t famous for its writing, but I absolutely loved the last part of Arceus. The Volo fight hit me out of nowhere, and the fact the fight itself was actually challenging was a very pleasant surprise. I wish we got a little bit more of an explanation for potato mochi guy, but the game has just the right balance of mystery and allusion to D/P to make you think. The isekai elements also reminded me of the first Mystery Dungeon games in a really good way.

I really liked most of Black/White, but I think it got a little weaker at the end. Exploring the idea that maybe this isn’t really different from cockfighting, that maybe it’s wrong to capture Pokémon and perhaps force them to fight was an interesting idea even if the game pumped the breaks on exploring it with “nah Ghetsis is just evil lol” at the end. (I never played BW2, so not sure if it’s any better there.)

On the opposite end of things, Sw/Sh are just absolute fucking slop. I played them stoned as shit, which usually makes me very easy to impress, but no. Chairman Rose is stupid and I don’t even remember why I fought him. Team Yell might as well as come from an episode of Johnny Test. I already came in pissed about Dexit, and nothing about those games seemed to go beyond the tier of entertainment and challenge that I’d expect from an iPad game for a toddler.

Beta takes place September 5-7.

Just another one of those questions that have been on my mind. I want to know what its like to be in a competitive game competition and if its worth it. Theres no way ill even be in 1 because they look hard and im a casual gamer.

Kewbash is a tactical grid combat game where two players battle on a 6×6 board. The players take turns at the same time. The game involves risk taking and psychology, trying to predict your opponent's moves while not causing a draw. It's inspired by games like Tron and Rock Paper Scissors.

https://kewbash.com/

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/9VKFcmwaME

TL;DW:

• Major DLC planned for Dynasty Warriors Origins
• Dynasty Warriors ? Remastered announced (they haven't said which one yet)

Today's game is Halo 3! A few months ago a friend picked up Halo MCC on Sale to play with our usual Halo group, and we resolved to play through the campaign together. We played Reach as a group of 4, then me and the friend played Halo 1 together, Halo 2 Co-Op had some issues though and he had to play by himself (we think it was performance problems). He finished Halo 2 the other night though and we got the gang back together for Halo 3. We started last night and finished on the level Calm Before, but picked up again today.

Above is my friend in his Warthog he picked up. As you can see it's peak camo for the desert environment. No foes will spot him (shortly after we blew him up though).

On the note of killing eachother, we've done that a lot having more people in the lobby i guess makes us more murderous. My favorite was when i was waiting for our tanks to drop, and one of my friend's threw a grenade at the other and i watch him sail across my screen like a Lizard with wings. It was majestic.

Because the ship came down at the same time his mongoose he was on at the time did some weird stuff too. It kind of sailed but in a linear fashion while rotating. It was interesting too see and highlights the absolute joy of Real Time cutscenes and in game events instead of prerendered ones.

We got a few group photos together too (shortly before they broke out killing eachother) as you can see, my Master Chief is carrying a skull. I did the entire level of The Storm carrying that thing. And we were on heroic which i think is equally impressive. I only died twice despite having to run like the entire covenant was up my ass. I did the same thing the other day with the level Crow's Nest too and it was fun. Somehow the skull is the most overpowered weapon in the game i guess. Makes me wish there was a skull that was skull's only or something.

The group photo feels like an awesome place to end off for tonight too. A little out of order? Yes. But also The Ark took so much time for us and also we crashed at the end because one of our friends lost Wi-Fi and Co-op unfortunately doesn't do check points.

Updated: 8/1/2025 4:18 p.m. ET: In a statement to Kotaku, a spokesperson for Valve said that while Mastercard did not communicate with it directly, concerns did come through payment processor and banking intermediaries. They said payment processors rejected Valve’s current guidelines for moderating illegal content on Steam, citing Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7.

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve’s statement sent over email to Kotaku reads. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks.  Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution.  Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”

Rule 5.12.7 states, “A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks.”

It goes on, “The sale of a product or service, including an image, which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value (such as, by way of example and not limitation, images of nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality), or any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark.”

Violations of rule 5.12.7 can result in fines, audits, or companies being dropped by the payment processors.

23,99€ currently on sale for the launch week, 29,99€ afterward. Price will increase during the Early Access period to the full 49,99€.

There's not much content right now, a prologue and the first act. Less than 10 hours, according to some comments. Major updates are planned every three months, with a least one year of Early Access, but potentially longer.

Multiplayer is in the game, but it's a preview, with lots of bugs apparently. That's probably why it's only listed as Single-player in the Steam store right now.

Some people complain about poor performance, others say it's fine. The game runs on UE5 apparently, but people say it looks very good.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/43285035

What a time to announce all 4 horseman of the apocalypse (Is that now GenAI, Climate Change, Genocide and Technofacism?) are coming in the close future.

From the companies press release:

_“The legendary saga of the Four Horsemen continues in Darksiders 4, an all-new action-adventure set in an apocalyptic version of earth and continues where the original Darksiders game left off.

Darksiders 4 is a 3rd person action adventure game featuring combat, traversal and puzzle solving in a lore rich post apocalyptic world.”_

Steam Page

Editorial

I have some level of excitement for this. Darksiders ability to never fully die is a sign of industry health to me. I have made multiple attempts to jump in to the first 2 from PS3 to PC to the remasters on X Series, PS4 and Switch (also stadia in keeping with my post history). The most recent switch attempt lasted the longest.

Not exactly sure what my completion percent was when I finally wandered off to something else that sparkled and caught my eye (probably a stressful day at work and whatever CoD was on the Xbox front page) but I remember feeling like it had finally clicked. The puzzles seemed engaging enough, I was vibing with the upgrade grind and the whole thing was ridiculous enough I’d give it a recommend finally.

Darksiders is a video game ass video game and it sort of knows it. It also has a side that feels like someone had a vhs of the Dolph Lundgren Masters of the Universe movie they watched a little too much growing up and that was their embodiment of dark fantasy. Mike Mignolas artwork was great as always and it just kind of worked. The series is straight B grade gaming and that’s my sweet spot. I also had a problem with the Beastmaster and the USA channel growing up so take my opinion with that context.

All that aside, it’s a goddamn miracle we’re getting the (hopefully) final game in a series that never really stood a chance of a 3rd mainline release not far after it was initially launched.

Best of luck Gunfire, let’s hope you can fight the tide of the live service, post game content, line goes up dev cycle and put out something you’re all proud of.