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A composite image shows the protagonists of Metal Eden, Silksong, and a No Man's Sky character arranged in a row.

Silksong And 3 Other Cool Games We’re Digging

by admin September 5, 2025

Welcome to September! It may not officially be fall yet, but temperatures are finally getting tolerable and soon enough there’ll be pumpkin spice everything (which I unironically love).

I also love video games (contrary to popular belief), and so my comrades and I here at Kotaku are once again poised to offer up some great suggestions if you’re on the lookout for something to play this weekend. Naturally, we’re gonna talk about Silksong, but there’s also some killer science fiction in this edition of the Weekend Guide. Let’s get to it.

Star Wars Outlaws

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Unsupported”)
Current goal: Get Kay Vess to say “Dank farrik!” about 17 more times

I played Outlaws when it first launched a little over a year ago, and I liked it well enough even then. Sure, I sometimes got frustrated with its insta-fail stealth missions, but I also loved the chance to just soak up the vibes in a backwater cantina, or crush my opponents in a game of sabacc. In the time since, the gameplay has seen many refinements and the story has been expanded with a few new chapters, and I’ve been curious to see just how much of an impact these changes would have on my experience. But to get the full effect of these revisions, I decided it would be best to start the game over from the beginning, and if I was going to do that anyway, I figured I might as well wait for the Switch 2 version for maximum comfort and convenience.

You may have seen the reports that emerged last week from PAX West indicating that Outlaws on Switch 2 might be very compromised, but now it’s here and I’m happy to echo many others in saying that it actually runs totally fine and is, if anything, a technical marvel of a port! With this, Cyberpunk 2077, and Street Fighter 6 all wowing me on Nintendo’s handheld, I’m starting to wonder why we’re not seeing way more ports of big games from recent years make the leap. But I’m getting ahead of myself, since I still have plenty of Outlaws left to play before I have to worry about what to play next. I’m too early yet to really say just how much the changes to combat and other aspects of gameplay may have impacted the game overall, but I’m already enjoying nonchalantly leaning on walls in cantinas again and taking in all that grimy Star Wars atmosphere. – Carolyn Petit

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch 2, Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Beat Fourth Chorus

Stop me if you’ve already heard about this game before. It’s a Metroidvania Soulslike about constantly backtracking like you forgot to turn the stove off or lock the door, only the second you leave the house again you get killed and have to go back and collect all your shit a second time. Rinse and repeat for 30-40 hours, overcome some cool boss fights, get introspective about some random aside from a mysterious NPC, and you have the Hollow Knight experience in a nutshell. Based on my first few hours with Silksong, I expect it to be more of the same, but like you’re doing it all for the first time again.

And what could be better than that? How many amazing games are out there that we always wished could have gotten sequels that were the same but different? Chrono Trigger? Earthbound? Bloodborne? There’s something so satisfyingly straightforward about Silksong: here’s more of that thing you loved, without the tedium of replaying what you already know. How fitting for a Metroidvania. The very act of playing Silksong in the first place feels like backtracking! The biggest difference by far is that Hornet can only attack downwards while in the air at a 45 degree angle. I kind of hate it but that’s probably the point. The best games get us out of our comfort zones, even when a big part of their appeal is in returning to the familiar. – Ethan Gach

No Man’s Sky

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Get me one of those Corvettes

There’s an alternate reality where the only game I play is No Man’s Sky. But this realm of existence, sadly, saddles me with too many competing interests to dedicate all of my time to this wonderful space sim Hello Games has continued to expand over the years. Still, this weekend I will yet again reality-shift to that state of bliss NMS takes me too, as I’m really eager to see how much the recent Voyagers update changes the game.

Read More: No Man’s Sky Fans Are Doing Wild Stuff As The Game Hits A New Peak On Steam

Previous updates have certainly expanded NMS, but having your own ship from which you can skydive or teleport down to the surface changes a core mechanic that’s been at the heart of the game since 2016: managing fuel for your launch thrusters. Being able to just jump down to a planet to gather resources not only changes how you interact with these voxel-based worlds, but no doubt really impacts the entire resource economy in ways I’m eager to discover as well. And of course, I’m very into the ability to build some impressive and creative ships too, like this neat-looking thing that caught my eye on Reddit recently. The VR mode for the game has been tweaked a bit for the better it seems, too, and it’s been a bit too long since I’ve gamed with a headset on, so I’m likely to give that a spin as well. – Claire Jackson

Metal Eden

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: Unsupported)
Current goal: Escape the Sand Trap

You might remember Ruiner as the gory top-down cyberpunk shooter about blasting people in the head to bring down a corrupt system. Well, eight years later(!) Reikon Games is back with a first-person cyberpunk shooter about blasting people in the head to bring down a corrupt system. Metal Eden is Ghostrunner meets Doom; a fast-paced, style-over-substance FPS about using spatial reasoning to decode the most efficient way to traverse a level, kill everything in it, and survive a wave-based showdown in a locked arena at the end.

I played and enjoyed the demo earlier this year and recently dipped into the finished game. It’s gotten surprisingly decent reviews that left me excited to see what the back half of the exceedingly brief campaign has to offer. The first couple of chapters feel like waking up into a hyper-violent dream at the end of the universe, light on details but heavy on vibes, more Equilibrium than The Matrix. I hope it can stick the landing, though even if it doesn’t it’s one of 2025’s prettier and more tightly calibrated Doom clones. – Ethan Gach

And that wraps our picks for the weekend! What are you playing?

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September 5, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

A Cool Handheld Facing An Uphill Battle

by admin September 3, 2025

The ROG Xbox Ally X surprised me with how light it felt the first time I picked it up. Despite being one of the heaviest PC gaming handhelds, it doesn’t actually feel overbearing or burdensome. The controller grips on the sides might make it look goofy but they also make it more comfortable, so the battery life will stop me from playing long before tired arms or cramping wrists. And none of this will matter if the price isn’t right.

An October 16 release date for the Xbox-branded Asus hardware was revealed at Gamescom 2025. That was two weeks ago. Now we’re 42 days from launch and there’s still no pre-order page or even an official price tag. The latter is seemingly under review following the latest U.S. tariff updates from President Trump’s White House. But if, for whatever reason, it ends up costing double the price of a Switch 2 or Steam OLED as some leaks have suggested it will, it’s going to have some big shoes to fill. I’m not sure neat paddles on the sides, a new AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, and a slick UI overhaul alone will be able to justify the experiment.

I went hands-on with the Xbox Ally X (the more powerful of the two upcoming models) at Microsoft’s offices last week in Seattle during PAX West and came away with what felt like a glimpse of where the tech giant could take Windows gaming in the future, as well as lots of questions about where it will actually be come this fall. When he tried it at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, Kotaku‘s Kenneth Shepard lamented handheld gaming’s newfound obsession with replicating high-end PC and console experiences on the go. I came away from my hands-on demo more curious about how the PC gaming handheld could reshape the Xbox home console experience moving forward.

The Xbox Ally is Microsoft’s attempt to bolt a gaming OS onto Windows so the average person can turn it on and boot up a game without ever having to navigate a task bar or desktop shortcut. Turn the handheld on and it boots directly into the new OS layer running on top of Windows 11. Accidentally crash it by trying to navigate around too fast or hitting a button when you’re not supposed to, as I did several times, and that dreaded error window will pierce through the overlay like an unwanted virus alert.

Kotaku

The experiment won’t be worth it if Microsoft and Asus can’t figure out a decent price tag, but it won’t mean anything at all if they can’t keep the new UI stable enough to successfully trick you into forgetting that the Xbox Ally, contrary to catchy marketing, is still actually a Windows PC. When it does work, the promise of the Xbox Ally shines through unmistakably: your PC game library made easy to navigate and play on already proven hardware. Tags for every game tell you if it can run at high settings or if it’s yet to be tested.

Much has been made of how the Xbox UI will automatically pull in games you already own on Steam, letting you launch them from within the Xbox layer without having to separately descend back into Windows and open them manually. Can you buy Steam games directly from within the Xbox layer as well? Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that yet.

The idea may simply be that most people will buy Steam games on their actual PCs, then have them easily accessible when they move over to the Xbox Ally where they will then also have Game Pass waiting for them. The Xbox Ally is the first step in a new race with Valve to see which company can make accessing its competitor’s products on its own devices more frictionless, and Game Pass on SteamOS is still a pain.

Perhaps the biggest coup for the Xbox Ally team within Microsoft is a feature that lets you hold down the dedicated Xbox button to quickly navigate between apps just like you might on a smartphone. It feels like an evolution of Quick Resume on console, by far Microsoft’s biggest contribution to the current console generation experience outside of Game Pass. If only every gaming handheld made it so easy to toggle between games, Discord, and the web. If only every gaming handheld even had Discord.

Speaking of the Switch 2, I brought it to the demo for size comparison purposes. I spent most of my time on the Xbox Ally playing Hollow Knight: Silksong, a game I will be buying on my Switch 2 when it comes out this week. The original game on the original Switch was an ideal handheld experience, as evidenced by how few of Kotaku‘s staff at the time even played it before it came to Nintendo’s console. The sequel only costs $20 and will not be testing any PC gaming handheld benchmarks. Do you really need a $600, $800, or even $1,000 PC gaming handheld to enjoy it?

Over 150 million Switches sold proves there’s a market for cheap gaming handhelds. Six million PC gaming handhelds sold, meanwhile, suggests there is not yet a market for the high-end ones, at least not one that can meaningfully profit a public company investing $80 billion a year in AI. But even if a trade war ultimately makes the Xbox Ally dead on arrival, at least in the U.S., I’m glad to see companies trying. There are a lot of cool ideas in there and I’d love to see how they could be applied to console gaming in the future.

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September 3, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Best Window Air Conditioners 2025: 11 Picks to Cool You for Years

by admin August 27, 2025

Others We Tested

EcoFlow Wave 2 for $1,299: Lisa Wood Shapiro tested the newest model for this update. The EcoFlow Wave 1 has cooled down my wife’s office for more than a year just fine—we can’t use a window AC there because it would block the fire escape. Lo and behold, there’s a new version that’s slightly cheaper (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s a little lighter than its predecessor at 32 pounds, yet has a higher 5,100 BTU rating (up from 4,000). New here is a heating mode rated at 6,100 BTU, so you can keep using it in the winter to warm up a room. The company says it’s best for rooms up to 107 square feet. You do need to place it near a window to have one of the included ducts connected to the vent to take hot exhaust from the back of the unit out of the room. What makes this unit versatile is how you can power it. You can use a standard AC outlet, but you can buy the version with a battery to keep it working when you don’t have access to power, or you can hook it up to solar panels. —Julian Chokkattu

Dreo Smart Air Conditioner for $460: The Dreo Smart Air Conditioner not only cools a large bedroom effectively and quickly, it also can be controlled by the app in my iPhone. Along with the Dreo’s easy-to-use app, it can be paired with Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It has an easy-to-read LED display and control panel, along with a magnetized place for the remote, and louvers that open and close, adding to its robotlike aesthetic. The setup was easy, and I didn’t drill in a single screw, as I was able to close the window on the expanders. It’s not entirely clear how I was supposed to snap the hose into the window hole, but I shoved it in and it seems to fit in there. It’s not super airtight, which is fine. One of the issues with portable air conditioners is the single hose. It can create a vacuum in an airtight space; think pressure in your ears like an airplane. And it can create enough negative pressure that the room can potentially suck in hot air from the outside. So, leave the window open a crack. However, we now only recommend dual-hose portables, as they don’t create a vacuum and are more efficient. —Lisa Wood Shapiro

Zero Breeze Mark II for $999: With its 2,300 BTU, you won’t be able to get the same cooling power as with the EcoFlow Wave, but the Zero Breeze (7/10, WIRED Review) is much lighter at 17 pounds. This bundle includes a battery that will make the whole thing weigh about 30 pounds, but you’ll get four hours of use without needing to be near a wall outlet. Like the EcoFlow, you get a few vent pipes to direct exhaust away and direct cool air to a specific area, but unlike the EcoFlow, you can’t charge the battery and use the AC at the same time. —Julian Chokkattu

Zero Breeze Mark III for $1,399: As WIRED contributor Chris Null notes (7/10, WIRED Review), the Mark III is both larger than the Mark II and quite a bit heavier, now 22 pounds. Add on the 1,022-Wh battery pack and you’ll pack on another 14 pounds, though that frees you from having to be near a power outlet. New for the Mark III is the fact that batteries can now be stacked and charged in sequence, each daisy-chained to the next (though at $600+ per battery, this can get pricey fast). Each Mark III battery also has extra outputs that can be used for other devices—one USB-C port, one USB-A port, and a 12-volt DC socket. However, the Mark II battery has all of the above plus a second USB-A port. No word on why this was removed. However, it’s a bigger, punchier unit by most standards and a worthwhile buy for outdoors enthusiasts.

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BTU stands for British thermal units. In the case of air conditioners, BTU is a way to measure how much heat the compressor can remove from a room. It’s a quick and easy way to figure out whether an AC unit is powerful enough to cool your space. First, you’ll want to find the square footage of your room by multiplying the length and width. Then, use the US Department of Energy’s guidance on the BTU capacity you need. For example, a 150- to 250-square-foot room needs a 6,000 BTU AC unit or higher for adequate cooling.

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Check the combined energy-efficiency ratio (CEER) rating. The specs on any air conditioner you buy should list a CEER rating, which is one of the best ways of checking the energy efficiency of a unit. You’ll usually see a number between 9 and 15. The higher the number, the less you’ll pay when the electricity bill comes around. A cheap window AC unit might save you money at first, but you may end up shelling out more in the long run. The US Energy Star program has a website that lets you browse AC units based on their CEER ratings.

Check local laws. Some cities, like New York, require installing brackets to support your window AC. A simple one like this model should do the trick, though we haven’t tried it out. You may also need to head to a hardware store for some plywood to make sure your window sill sits flat, but this depends on the type of windows you have and the AC model you buy. When installing, you should get a friend to help you out. These units can be heavy and difficult to hold, and the last thing you want is to drop one out the window.

Measure your window. Before you buy, read up on the supported window types and sizes for the AC unit you’re looking at, and measure your window to be safe. Make sure to seal any gaps as best you can with the included foam. (You can always buy more if you need it.)

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe today.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

I’m sad the Battlefield 6 beta is over, but this 2042 event keeps the party going even if the cool kids have already gone home

by admin August 18, 2025

Battlefield 6 has run its last open beta. This, obviously, is a tragedy. How else am I meant to spend my weekends? Where else can I drive around with four loads of C4 strapped to the boot, or engage in high-flying aerial duels? Well, there’s always Battlefield 2042.

But why go back? Well, it seems as though EA understands a widespread longing may have been on the cards with Battlefield 6’s absence, and has therefore introduced a limited-time event to the older title to keep folks engaged for the next few months. A celebration of sorts for 2042 before everyone leaps off towards greener pastures.

This new Battlefield 2042 update – which is straight up titled the “Road to Battlefield 6” update – includes a free battle pass full of little goodies, a revamp of the Iwo Jima map, and some prizes for those looking to jump into Battlefield 6 come October. Some of those battle pass rewards I mentioned earlier carry over, making 2042 a must-play for early-onset completionists.

Check out the Road to Battlefield update hereWatch on YouTube

It’s a clever ploy, offering permanent rewards for the new game. EA did it too for the Battlefield 6 beta, offering various cosmetics for hitting career levels or finishing challenges. It’s not like the Beta needed any help, but it surely would have brought folks back for the second beta even if they likely were fulfilled on the first beta alone. Battlefield 2042 offering such rewards will inevitably push those who never played the game – or maybe touched it only briefly – back into the fray.

Is this taking advantage of people’s FOMO? The voice in their heads that demands they need everything? Yeah absolutely, and as a former WoW mount collector that can be a real burden, but it’ll also inject a lot of life into Battlefield 2042 in its sunset period. For people who have stuck with Battlefield 2042 through thick and thin it’ll be like one last hurrah, and for Battlefield 6 refugees it’ll be a cool way of passing the time.

It does also help that Battlefield 2042 is a lot better now than it used to be. After years of updates, tweaks and changes, it’s really come into its own as of late. While a sizable number of players who’ll jump into Battlefield 2042 for its Road to Battlefield 6 event will be fair weather friends, there for a good time and not a long time, it may very well do wonders in remedying popular sentiment around the game that lingers from its troubled launch.

There have been some pretty cool crossovers in 2042, you’ve got to admit. | Image credit: EA

So yeah I’ll hop back into Battlefield 2042 – I too haven’t really touched it since its release. I’ll try out the new KFS2000, I’ll squad up with some friends, and hey, maybe I will crash some helicopters into people. The Battlefield 6 rewards are nice and I’ll take great joy in showing them off come October.

But honestly? I just think it’s a nice curtain call for a game that’ll inevitably be left largely behind when Battlefield 6 comes along. I do hope that for many people, it’ll leave a fond final memory of 2042 before the game is memory holed and thrown down the same well Hardline lives in.

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Disney’s Got a Cool ‘Andor’ Zine for Emmy Season

by admin August 18, 2025

With less than a month to go before the Emmys, Disney’s pulling out all the stops to make sure Andor takes home some gold. Not only did it recently release the script for “Welcome to the Rebellion,” one of its best season two episodes, it’s also getting the word out through the power of the press.

As Disney describes it, the REBELIÓN zine celebrates “our 14 Emmy® nominations, the filmmakers, talent, and incredible craftspeople who were responsible for bringing this show to life,” and has already been sent out to press and voters. Per a now-deleted tweet, Los Angeles residents can pick up a copy at locations like Atwater Village’s Secret Headquarters, Echo Park’s Stories and Heavy Manners Zine Library, while everyone else can peep the digital version here.

Within its pages are the pitch of Andor’s second season, propaganda posters featuring Cassian, Mon Mothma, and the Ghor, shots of key Empire characters, and concept art for the season. Showrunner Tony Gilroy also recently appeared at a pop-up event at West Hollywood’s Kiosk-O-Thèque, which you can see below.

ANDOR’s creator Tony Gilroy and special guests at a secret Emmy® FYC pop-up at Kiosk-O-Thèque with Are We On Air?. Thank you to our attendees for stopping by and joining the Rebellion 📷 #FYC pic.twitter.com/LdUPGT3pny

— Andor | A Star Wars Original Series (@andorofficial) August 16, 2025

REBELIÓN is some of the last Andor media we’re likely to get; season two’s likely getting a physical release, but the only other known work coming is the series’ art book in May 2026. Anyone looking to understand the show on a writing level is out of luck, since Gilroy previously said there’s no plans to publish the series’ full scripts as a means of safeguarding the show against generative AI. Too bad this is physical version isn’t for everyone.

The Emmys will air on Sunday, September 14, where we’ll see if Andor takes home any gold for its last season.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

I need Wave Race: Blue Storm and its cheesy cool to return to the Switch 2’s GameCube Classics collection

by admin August 18, 2025

It’s been 22 years since the last home console F-Zero game (not counting the handheld spin-offs and 2023’s F-Zero 99), but with the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2 we finally got a chance to revisit the GameCube’s outstanding F-Zero GX. Despite some wonky controls, it’s a game that still stands up today. No wonder Nintendo hasn’t attempted to better it.

But there’s another Nintendo racing series that’s been on hiatus for even longer. Wave Race: Blue Storm was released back in 2001 as a launch window game for the GameCube, only the third in the series behind Wave Race 64 and, before that, the Game Boy original Wave Race. Since then? Nothing.

Pitches were made for a Wii entry, including holding the Wiimote sideways and using the Wii Balance Board, but these never came to fruition. I think it’s high time for Wave Race to make a splash on Switch 2, and that begins with the return of Blue Storm.

Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics – Nintendo Direct | Nintendo Switch 2Watch on YouTube

I know it’s a bit of an ongoing joke among gaming enthusiasts, but I still often find myself judging a game’s visuals by its water graphics: the shimmering translucency, the physics of rolling waves, its splashy wetness. Thing is, Wave Race: Blue Storm nailed it 23 years ago. That’s what made it so brilliant.

It’s a jet-ski racing game, you see, and with it being on water rather than a ground-based track, the course is always shifting. You don’t simply drive a car round a corner; you have to account for the height and power of each wave as you weave in and out of each buoy (or boo-ey as the announcer infuriatingly pronounces it, sorry Americans). There’s a high level of skill required, but with practice you can skim over cresting waves or dive beneath them to utilise shortcuts. This sort of water physics was incredibly impressive back in 2001, even if Wave Race 64 managed similarly on the previous hardware generation.

But then those water physics are taken a step further with each course. Perhaps you’re racing on the glass-like serene surface of a lake, or the choppy waters of a city harbour. On coastal courses the tide sweeps in and out, revealing hidden routes over multiple laps. One level has a collapsing glacier sending turbulent shockwaves in your wake. There’s a sense of dynamism to Blue Storm’s races that’s rarely seen in more traditional racing games.

Then there are the weather effects, ranging from pleasant sunny days to a raging tempest that sends violent waves crashing towards your jet-skiier. No race in Wave Race is ever the same and your skills are constantly being tested as you adapt to the water beneath you, subtly squeezing those adaptive triggers on the controller to angle around obstacles.

I also love how the water sports theme permeates the whole game. Sure, you can flip a jet-ski and perform hand stands to increase your speed boost. But the loading screens have a little bubble you can manoeuvre to watch ripples cascade across the screen; menus overlay a glistening aquatic backdrop; and sound effects are all splishes and splashes and droplets. Everything just looks so…wet. It’s enough to make you pee.

Perhaps what I remember most fondly about Blue Storm is its surf rock soundtrack, all electric guitars smothered in chorus and flange. What’s more, the music changes based on the weather, matching its calm undulations and stormy chaos. Along with the bright visuals, eccentric announcer, and goofy characters, it all lends Blue Storm a sense of cheesy cool that will forever take me back to the early 00s and that GameCube launch period. The skies were blue, the waters clear, and the games were all short and manageable. It was a better time.

This is why Wave Race: Blue Storm deserves to make a return on Switch 2. Yes, Nintendo will obviously bring back the likes of Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Super Smash Bros. – all excellent games – but it’s the lesser known games I’m keen to see shine on the console’s GameCube service. If we can get Chibi Robo this week, there’s space for Blue Storm.

Better yet, perhaps the return of F-Zero GX and Wave Race: Blue Storm will convince Nintendo there are other racing series besides Mario Kart that deserve new outings on Switch 2. It’s been long enough now and the steering wheel and jet-ski handlebars don’t need to be reinvented. Just let me play Wave Race handheld with HD graphics in the bath for a proper 4D experience.

Which GameCube games do you most want to see return on Switch 2? Sound off in the comments!

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August 18, 2025 0 comments