Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Divisive, Call Of Duty’s Launcher Sucks, And More Of The Week’s Top Takes

Image: BioWare, skvalval / Nintendo / Kotaku (Shutterstock), Treyarch / Activision, Remedy Entertainment, Activision, Screenshot: Kotaku / Deck 9 Games / Square Enix

This week, nothing in video games resulted in more takes being heated and tweets being fired off than the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the first new entry in BioWare’s series in 10 years. We took a look at the different reactions some critics and players are having to the game. We also sang the praises of Alan Wake 2’s final DLC, The Lake House, condemned Call of Duty’s launcher to the trash heap, and speculated about what else Nintendo might announce (in addition to the alarm clock, the Wii U port, and the music app it’s already announced) before finally giving us a glimpse of the Switch 2.

Image: BioWare

Today, October 28, reviews went live for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I reviewed it here at Kotaku, and despite being jaded toward the series for the better part of a decade, I really loved the long-awaited fourth entry. Right now it sits at a strong 84 on review aggregate site Metacritic, which is about in line with where these games typically land. The original Dragon Age: Origins sits at an 86, with Inquisition, the series’ third entry, landing close by at 84. Meanwhile, Dragon Age II, probably the most divisive game in the series, sits at 79. As much as I loved my time with The Veilguard, I knew it would elicit some pretty divergent reactions from folks. There are 10s and there are some more middling scores. You can even find some folks straight-up saying they “do not recommend” the game, like YouTuber Skill Up does while discussing all his problems with BioWare’s latest entry. But what’s the issue? What are folks so split on? Well, everything, it sounds like. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

Image: skvalval / Nintendo / Kotaku (Shutterstock)

Where the hell is the Switch 2, folks? It’s the last day of October and Nintendo still hasn’t revealed the one thing every fan is waiting for. Instead, we’ve gotten almost everything else the company could think of, from random ports of cult Wii U games to literal alarm clocks. What else could the gaming giant throw at fans while it continues running out the clock on a new console announcement in 2024? – Ethan Gach Read More

Image: Treyarch / Activision

A few years ago, my best friends convinced me to play Call of Duty: Warzone, the series’ battle royale installment that had shot up the charts. While I was aware of it for work reasons, I’d largely sworn off the franchise about a decade prior, returning for brief stints and forays into the Black Ops subseries that I’d come to love. And I grew to love Warzone too in time, but only through a lot of hardship, namely trying to get acclimated to it as a terrible client and launcher for other Call of Duty titles. – Moises Taveras Read More

Image: Remedy Entertainment

After the crowning achievement that is Alan Wake 2, you’d think developer Remedy Entertainment would take a break. Yet in the subsequent expansions to the 2023 survival horror game, the studio has poked and prodded further at the base game’s thesis, teasing out even more fascinating aspects of its world. The Lake House, the final DLC for Alan Wake 2, does this poking with exceptional style and an eye towards discussing one of the industry’s hottest topics of debate: AI’s role in art. As a goodbye to one of the best AAA games in recent memory, it’s a triumph. – Willa Rowe Read More

Image: Activision

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is the first entry in the annual blockbuster to be announced and released since Microsoft acquired it along with the rest of Activision Blizzard last October. And, by all accounts, it’s giving Xbox the boost it needed during a rough year. On an earnings call this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called it the “biggest Call of Duty release ever.” – Ethan Gach Read More

Screenshot: Kotaku / Deck 9 Games / Square Enix

I was recently made aware that Life Is Strange: Double Exposure has a character just like me. I don’t just mean that they say things similar to me or even dress the same. I mean that Moses from the newest Life Is Strange game looks just like me (at least when I’m freshly cut and trimmed) and he even has my ding dang name! Sure, I’m Moises and he’s Moses, but if you anglicize my name, it’s the same shit. I don’t know whether I should be flattered, or get on the phone with some lawyers. – Moises Taveras Read More