Call of Duty, Palworld, And More Of The Week’s Best Gaming Takes

Photo: Kotaku / Smileus / K-Studio / M Kunz (Shutterstock), Image: Pocket Pair / Kotaku, Square Enix, Activision / Kotaku / Elnur / gualtiero boffi / leolintang (Shutterstock), Microsoft

For a game we’ve all been calling “Pokémon with guns,” turns out there aren’t all that many guns in the first few hours of Palworld. But you know what there is far too much of? Crafting mechanics in video games. Anyway, here are our takes on this week’s news.

Photo: Kotaku / Smileus / K-Studio / M Kunz (Shutterstock)

The world is currently going wild over Palworld. Some people love it. Some people hate it. And nearly everyone has a take (or a take on all the takes), creating one of the worst discourse storms I’ve digitally sailed through in some time. But I’m not here to discuss any of that. Instead, I’m here to admit that I’m so done with survival games and punching trees. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

Image: Pocket Pair / Kotaku

Over the weekend, I downloaded Palworld on my PC. I was excited. After all the weird trailers and screenshots showing Pokémon-like creatures using assault rifles or being shot with handguns, I was ready to earn official Xbox achievements as I killed Pokémon facsimiles using modern guns. It was hunting time. And then, after playing for over six hours, I realized that I had been tricked into playing another goddamn survival crafting game that wanted me to punch trees and mine stone for a few hours before it got fun. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

Image: Square Enix

Death and sacrifice are as fundamental to Final Fantasy as chocobos, moogles, and gruff guys named Cid. With the death of a key character at the end of Final Fantasy VII disc one, the series set a heartbreaking trend for many installments that followed. That’ll likely be the same with the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but there’s plenty of evidence within the wider lore to suggest that another central character is destined to perish this time around. – Corey Plante Read More

Image: Activision / Kotaku / Elnur / gualtiero boffi / leolintang (Shutterstock)

On January 25, Microsoft announced an almost 9 percent reduction of its workforce in the company’s gaming division, totaling nearly 2,000 staffers who’ve lost their jobs across Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox. Some of these folks worked on Call of Duty, one of the industry’s biggest and most profitable franchises, indicating that no one, not even those working on this moneymaking juggernaut, is safe when corporations decide it’s time to make the “difficult decision” to reduce headcount and eliminate roles. – Levi Winslow Read More

Image: Microsoft

In September 2011, I was a college junior very willing to waste away the early days of her fall semester playing Epic Games’ new third-person shooter, Gears of War 3. I pre-ordered the highly anticipated title so I could guarantee I got the gold Retro Lancer skin for my multiplayer battles, and threw myself into the beta earlier that year with more energy than I put into my entire undergraduate coursework combined. – Alyssa Mercante Read More