Tips For Getting Started In Star Wars Outlaws, A Detailed Look At The Mass Effect Board Game, And More Of The Week's Top Pointers

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Image: Modiphius Entertainment, Skybound Games, IO Interactive, Capcom, Ghost Ship Games, Screenshot: Lucasfilm / Ubisoft / Kotaku, Square Enix / Kotaku, Bethesda / Kotaku, Epic / Kotaku, Graphic: Kotaku / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

In this week’s tip-oriented catch-all, we’ll help you get started in Star Wars Outlaws with 21 tips for beginners. We’ll also give you a great look at the Mass Effect board game, point you toward some great discounts on some great games, and help you snag Fallout 76's tough-to-acquire legendary weapon, the V63 Zweihaender. All this and more in the pages ahead.

A floating head poster of Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Tali, and Shepard.

Image: Modiphius Entertainment

The original Mass Effect crew is reuniting 12 years after they saved the galaxy, but not in a video game. Mass Effect the Board Game—Priority: Hagalaz is a four-player tabletop game set during the events of Mass Effect 3, and it stars most of the Normandy SR-1’s team in a brand-new adventure. Asari scientist Liara T’Soni, Quarian nomad Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, Krogan leader Urdnot Wrex, and Turian vigilante Garrus Vakarian all star alongside protagonist Commander Shepard in a mission set during the height of the Reaper invasion. Rest in peace to all the Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko stans (me)—the human squadmates are not part of the board game. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

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Screenshot: Lucasfilm / Ubisoft / Kotaku

Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s giant open-world Star Wars action game, is finally out and it’s pretty good. But before you hop in, you might want to read up on these 21 tips to become the best scoundrel in the galaxy. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

A garden filled with statues including one that looks like a keyhole

Image: Skybound Games

It feels like every list of the best co-op games to play with a friend always includes the same handful of recommendations, and while the likes of Portal 2 and It Takes Two are great, you can only play them so many times. But there is a more recent game perfect for those in search of a challenging experience to play with a friend—2022’s Escape Academy. - Willa Rowe Read More

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Graphic: Kotaku / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Who doesn’t love free video games? It’s the best way to expand your backlog of titles you’ll never touch – at least not until you retire, which is what you keep telling yourself to assuage the guilt. To help feed this cycle, Amazon Prime is giving subscribers three fan-favorite The Lord of the Rings games as part of its latest promotion for The Rings of Power, which airs on August 29. - Brandon Morgan Read More

Our intrepid gang walks purposefully to the left. Toward what? No one knows.

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Square Enix’s Visions of Mana is an RPG, and if there’s one thing we know about RPGs, it’s that they tend to be long. If you’re looking to get the most entertainment per minute for your dollar, this is great news. For others, the thought of tackling days-long epics might inspire unadulterated dread. The most recent Mana games, such as Trials of Mana, have been on the shorter side by RPG standards. However, those have also been remakes of decades old games. So how does this brand-new Mana game compare? - Timothy Monbleau Read More

A Fallout dude holding the Zweihaender.

Screenshot: Bethesda / Kotaku

Fallout 76’s recent update Skyline Valley brought with it more than just insane weather and new types of Scorched to contend with; it also introduced numerous Legendary weapons. Some of these prove relatively simple to obtain, others, not so much. Zweihaender falls into the latter camp. Hopefully, you have a large stock of Stimpaks! - Brandon Morgan Read More

Key art for Hitman 3, showing Agent 47's shadowy profile while he wields a silenced pistol.

Image: IO Interactive

The fervor around the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is a great reminder that once upon a time, we were drowning in iconic stealth franchises. Over the years, some series have dwindled or transformed into whole other things, but one of them has kept kicking and found even greater success as of late, and that’s the most recent Hitman games. - Moises Taveras Read More

A screenshot of Leon Kennedy aiming his gun at an unseen target in Resident Evil 2.

Image: Capcom

No, you’re not crazy. Summer is basically over, even if this godforsaken heat is hellbent on lingering for another few weeks. Kids are going back to school, hoodies and jackets are about to come back out, and I’m going to stay my ass indoors and start enjoying horror games and movies while staying warm under two blankets. If you’ve got a similar plan, boy do I have the bundle for you. - Moises Taveras Read More

Artwork of Deep Rock Galactic's four playable character classes.

Image: Ghost Ship Games

Xbox has run a pretty neat program over the years called ID@Xbox that promotes independent developers and allows them to publish their games on Microsoft’s console. The program was built off the back of the Xbox 360’s marketplace, which famously became a haven for indie games in the late ‘00s and early ‘10s, such as Bastion and the original Geometry Wars. Xbox remains a powerhouse for indies, thanks in no small part to their frequent releases on the platform’s Game Pass subscription service, which provides access to hundreds of games (many of them indies) on a rolling basis. Now, Xbox is holding a sale on a number of its ID@Xbox titles, and we’ve gone to the liberty of picking out a few games you should pick up. Alternatively, a few of these are available on Game Pass but, in my opinion, the last year has borne out that subscriptions are theft and ownership is the way forward. Without further ado, comrades, the highlights of Xbox’s ongoing sale. - Moises Taveras Read More

Standing before the statue of Cynthia.

Screenshot: Epic / Kotaku

Fortnite’s second story mission for Chapter 5, Season 4, is out. Unlike the first one featuring Gwenpool, this one isn’t hidden, so you won’t need to do anything special to unlock it. To get all the delicious XP and continue the quest to thwart Doctor Doom, follow our handy guide. - Luis Joshua Gutierrez Read More

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