GAMING

Tetris, Star Wars and More Of The Week’s Biggest Gaming News

Think the first week of January is a slow one for news? Think again. A 13-year-old Tetris phenom has boldly gone where no one has gone before, beating the NES version of the classic puzzler by reaching a “kill screen” on level 157. Steam announced the occasionally baffling results of its annual players’ choice awards, and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall got a free-to-play, fan-made remaster.


Bethesda’s Biggest Game Ever Is Free And Remastered

A character sits atop a horse in a town in Daggerfall Unity, with the graphics enhanced by a mod.

Screenshot: Daggerfall Unity

Before Starfield, before Skyrim, before Fallout 3 and Oblivion, before your parents even knew how to make you, there was The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. It was, and remains, Bethesda’s biggest-ever game, and now a fan-made rebuilding of the entire vast world in Unity has reached its 1.0 release. Oh, and it’s entirely free, and won’t be destroyed by lawyers! This new Daggerfall is an almighty achievement, and exactly the excuse you needed to return to Tamriel. – John Walker Read More


So, Uh, What’s Up With The Steam Awards?

A picture of the Steam Awards is next to logos for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Starfield.

Image: Valve / Rockstar Games / Bethesda / Kotaku

The results of 2023’s Steam Awards are in. Each year, Steam turns to the community to vote on the year’s best games across a wide variety of categories. This year saw Larian Studios’ RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 grab game of the year, while Lethal Company, a first-person cooperative horror game, got the “Better With Friends Award” for its co-op gameplay. The Last of Us Part I snagged Best Soundtrack, which seems odd because it came out in 2013, but it technically wasn’t added to Steam until 2023. – Claire Jackson Read More


Horror Game Studio Shuts Down Due To Cyberattacks, Poor Sales

Stray Souls protagonist Daniel reaches his right hand toward something illuminating his face.

Image: Jukai Studio

Just two months after the third-person action-horror game Stray Souls came out, developer Jukai Studio abruptly shuttered its doors, citing myriad issues including poor game sales and multiple cyberattacks from an unknown perpetrator.The developer took to X/Twitter on December 22 to announce the sudden closure. Part of the problem, Jukai Studio said, was Stray Souls’ abysmal reception and sales, which made the team “completely unable to sustain the company.” – Levi Winslow Read More


Three Decades Later, Someone Has Finally Beaten Tetris On NES

Official artwork for the NES version of the puzzler Tetris by Atari Games.

Image: Atari Games

Classic puzzle game Tetris has been around for over three decades, and in that time, plenty of people have reached its various endings, usually by clearing four rows of bricks at once like a digital demolitioner. That’s a challenge in and of itself, but now, someone has taken the concept of “beating Tetris” to the extreme by playing the NES game so hard it straight-up crashed, a phenomenon also known as the “kill screen.” – Levi Winslow Read More


Star Citizen’s ‘Everything Pack’ Costs $48,000

An image shows Moleman from the Simpsons commenting on the high price of the DLC.

Image: RSI / Fox / Disney / Kotaku

Forever-in-development space sim Star Citizen might not be finished after over a decade of dev work and announcements, but it does already contain a lot of expensive ships you can buy and fly around in. And if you want all of those ships in one big DLC pack, Star Citizen has an option for you. Just be prepared to spend over $48,000. – Zack Zwiezen Read More


Baldur’s Gate 3 Contains A Beautiful Tribute You’ll See Through Misted Eyes

Golbraith, as he appears in Baldur's Gate 3.

Screenshot: Andrea Gatta / X

Here’s something unironically wonderful. Via a post by Larian Studios writer Rachel Quirke, we’ve just learned of a deeply moving tribute to a player’s father that appears in the studios’ award-winning RPG Baldur’s Gate 3. In October 2020, a member of the Larian forums posted to thank the developer for releasing the first act of the game in Early Access, because it allowed them to enjoy one last adventure with their father, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. – John Walker Read More


Ubisoft Swiftly Corrects Star Wars Outlaws ‘Late 2024’ Release Window

Star Wars Outlaws protagonist Kay Vess peeks from behind some structure with an alien creature on her left shoulder.

Screenshot: Ubisoft Massive Entertainment / Kotaku

Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s upcoming action-adventure game that follows scoundrel Kay Vess between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, previously had no release date beyond a very broad “2024” window. Today, however, a Disney Parks blog post quietly announced that it would launch in “late 2024.” This didn’t last long, as Ubisoft promptly swooped in to correct the record and re-assert the general 2024 timeframe. – Levi Winslow Read More


Fan-Revived MMO Given Official License To Continue

An image shows a group of costumed super heroes as seen in City of Heroes.

Image: NCSoft

City of Heroes was a beloved MMORPG that launched in April 2004 and lasted just over eight years. In that time it won a dedicated community of players who, even after the game died, kept playing the MMO via private servers that existed in a weird legal gray area. But now, the developers behind City of Heroes have given one private server the official thumbs-up to keep on keeping on. – Zack Zwiezen Read More


Baldur’s Gate 3 Actors Share Their Most-Flubbed Lines

Baldur’s Gate 3 Actors Share Their Most-Flubbed Lines

The second part of our interview with Baldur’s Gate 3 actresses Devora Wilde and Jennifer English


Baldur’s Gate 3 Actors: Intimacy Coordinators Should Be ‘Industry Standard’

Baldur’s Gate 3 Actors: Intimacy Coordinators Should Be ‘Industry Standard’

The first part of our interview with Baldur’s Gate 3 actresses Devora Wilde and Jennifer English




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