Palworld, Hogwarts Legacy, And More Of The Week's Biggest Gaming News

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Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku, WB Games, Amazon Prime / Kotaku, MachineGames / Kotaku, Pocket Pair, Image: Aspyr / Crystal Dynamics, Nintendo / Kotaku, Atlus, Graphic: Jimmy Hasse

Lots going on this week! The Xbox Developer Direct event on January 18 gave us a sneak peek at upcoming games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Obsidian’s RPG Avowed. Ubisoft managed to put their foot in it by sharing an unpopular take on subscription services, and Hogwarts Legacy broke a longstanding industry record. Hold on to your hat—here comes the week’s biggest gaming news.

The prince swishes his sword against two hairy enemies.

Screenshot: Ubisoft / Kotaku

With the pre-release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown started, Ubisoft has chosen this week to rebrand its Ubisoft+ subscription services, and introduce a PC version of the “Classics” tier at a lower price. And a big part of this, says the publisher’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, is getting players “comfortable” with not owning their games. - John Walker Read More

An image shows three different versions of Lara next to the Tomb Raider remastered logo.

Image: Aspyr / Crystal Dynamics

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered will feature some spiffy quality-of-life updates, including the ability to turn on modern controls and health bars for bosses. However, the folks behind the updated collection are being careful to preserve the original games and let fans turn off most of the new tweaks and enhanced visuals. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

 Disney+/Marvel Studios), Samuel L. Jackson in Secret Invasion (Photo: Gareth Gatrell/Marvel), Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight (Photo: Marvel Studios), Alaqua Cox in Echo (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios)

Clockwise from bottom left: Tom Hiddleston in Loki (Photo: Marvel Studios), Aramis Knight and Iman Vellani in Ms. Marvel (Photo: Disney+), Tatiana Maslany in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Photo: Disney+), Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision (Photo: Disney+/Marvel Studios), Samuel L. Jackson in Secret Invasion (Photo: Gareth Gatrell/Marvel), Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight (Photo: Marvel Studios), Alaqua Cox in Echo (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios) Graphic: Jimmy Hasse

Updated 1/12: The MCU shows no signs of getting any smaller, does it? And now that Echo is here, it’s time to see where it sits in our ranking, from worst to best, of the whopping 26 Marvel shows that have premiered since 2013. Prepare for some ambitious Netflix fare, sturdy star vehicles, head trips like Legion, and—hang on, Helstrom, we’re getting to you—those not-so-hot titles, too. Dig in and let the non-superpowered fighting commence. - Sam Barsanti Read More

A GBA showing the Nintendo Switch Online website.

Image: Nintendo / Kotaku

The announcement that Nintendo Switch Online’s Game Boy Advance range is to receive RPGs Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age is incredibly welcome news. But there are still some absolutely colossal gaps, some all-time great GBA games that we’d love to play on our Switches. Nintendo! Hear our pleas! - John Walker Read More

A screenshot shows a wizard in Hogwarts Legacy fighting a large monster.

Screenshot: WB Games

According to newly released data, 2023's best-selling video game was Hogwarts Legacy from WB Games. And that means that for the first time in over a decade, the top-selling game of the year wasn’t another Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, or other Rockstar-published game. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

Persona 3 Reload's best boy Koromaru holds what appears to be a kunai in his mouth.

Image: Atlus

We’re halfway through January—where is the time going?—and Microsoft has revealed the rest of the games you can download this month with your Xbox Game Pass subscription. The crop is good, featuring a dungeon-crawling RPG, a monster collector, a social sim turn-based RPG, and more for your amusement. - Levi Winslow Read More

Kyle MacLachlan stares through a window.

Screenshot: Amazon Prime / Kotaku

An Amazon Prime TV show based on the post-apocalyptic Fallout games was originally announced in 2020. Coming from the creative team behind HBO’s Westworld, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, little more was heard until 2022 when casting and filming information began to trickle through. With the show due to start streaming in just a couple of months, it’s a great time to put together everything we know so far. - John Walker Read More

Indiana Jones draws a circle on a wall.

Screenshot: MachineGames / Kotaku

Xbox just held its January Developer Direct, which showcased a handful of its upcoming first-party games. If you missed out on the 50-minute stream and want to watch the whole thing, you can watch it here on Xbox’s YouTube channel, but if you want a quick rundown of everything they showed, read on. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

10 Minutes From The Last Of Us Part II’s Roguelike Mode

The Remastered edition introduces ‘No Return’, a survival single-player experience featuring randomized encounters

A screenshot shows a large yellow, cartoon cat-creature holding a big Gatling gun.

Screenshot: Pocket Pair

The developers behind PalWorld—which folks online often refer to as “Pokémon with guns”—understand that people might be suspicious of this unorthodox survival game, so they’ve tried to assure folks it’s not a “scam” on Steam. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

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