Keza MacDonald
Kotaku
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Keza:
Cool, Creative Video Games For Your Kids To Play While Social Distancing
Hi! I’m Keza MacDonald, a video games journalist of 15 years’ experience with two small kids and a teen stepkid. I’m currently The Guardian’s games editor and I also run a podcast for gamer parents called Spawnpoint (if you play games yourself, give it a listen). In an effort to do something useful in these extremely challenging times, I’ve put together this big list of kid-appropriate games to… → Read More
What Happens When Your Kids Develop Their Own Gaming Taste
For a beautiful few years, you have near-complete control over what your child plays. You decide what’s allowed and when, what to play together, which gems from the past to share with an excited five-year-old. Then a little more time passes, and suddenly the situation is completely different. → Read More
All The Video Games You Can't Play When You're Pregnant
There are plenty of fun things you can’t really do when pregnant: waterslides, alcohol, trampolines, staying up past 10pm. You’d think that video games would be a totally unaffected pursuit, but as I’ve discovered, even cherished sofa-time is not safe. → Read More
A Cyberpunk Ninja Game Where You Manipulate Time
After talking my way past the receptionist at a grotty hotel in Katana Zero, I stand in the elevator at the entrance to a heavily guarded floor, watching goons patrol back and forth. One’s got a shotgun, another a knife, another a pistol. I formulate a plan, then burst through the doors, slicing through all three of them with my sword before another rushes me and knocks me over. Shit. Try again.… → Read More
Yoshi's Crafted World: the Kotaku Review
Yoshi’s Crafted World, combines a touchably gorgeous aesthetic with a focused, memorable and varied gameplay experience. → Read More
Sekiro Is Way Better When You Stop Playing It Like A Souls Game
Given that it is a FromSoftware game, I expected a lot of people would struggle with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I didn’t expect that I, a disciple of these games since Demon’s Souls, would struggle with it quite so much. → Read More
When Should You Start Introducing Your Kids To Video Games?
As a gamer parent, I long for the day when I can play side-by-side with my beloved progeny. Overtly or not, I think most of us hope that our kids will turn out to be mini Pokémon trainers or enthusiastic Destiny squadmates. But what’s the best way to introduce children to games? → Read More
Trials Rising: The Kotaku Review
Trials Rising is a practically perfect game, so why dress it up in unnecessary frippery? → Read More
Crackdown 3: The Kotaku Review
It’s been a while since I’ve played something as refreshingly uncomplicated as Crackdown 3. You’re a big dude (or lady) with genetically-engineered superpowers and a whole lot of guns. Out there is a futuristic city stuffed with militia and hostile robots. And after the briefest preamble, you’re free to absolutely go to town on it. → Read More
Wargroove: The Kotaku Review
Wargroove has everything: a charming 2D look, imaginative characters and toylike units placed on gorgeous little battlefields, and accessible turn-based strategy inspired and informed by Intelligent Systems’ classics of the genre, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. So why am I not enjoying myself as much as I should be? → Read More
Pikuniku Is Not Your Average Game About A Red Blob With Legs
Do you want to feel like you’ve taken something mildly hallucinogenic and you’re watching foreign-language kids’ TV? I’ve got the game for you. → Read More
A Vegetarian's Guide To Hunting In Red Dead Redemption 2
In real life, I turn a bit green at the sight of a butcher shop. In video games, I am a merciless killer of monsters and, in Red Dead Redemption 2, deer. If you want to get into the game’s hunting, allow me to be your guide. → Read More
Why Reporting a Red Dead Redemption 2 Leak Cost a British Website $1.3 Million
The video games media reports on leaked information all the time. So why, when British website Trusted Reviews published details from a leaked document about Red Dead Redemption 2 in February of this year, did it end up paying out over a million dollars to charities as part of a settlement with publisher Take-Two Interactive? → Read More
How To Play Long Video Games When You Have No Time
For a lot of gamers with demanding jobs, marriages and/or families, the excitement of reading good reviews for games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is tempered by the sinking realization that they’ll never have time to play them. How do you make time for a 60+ hour game when you have a busy life? → Read More
A Game About Staying In Bed All Day
For a couple of months I’ve been dipping in and out of #SelfCare, a game about deciding to not get out of bed. It’s nominally designed for people who don’t really like video games, but as someone who has played them all my life, I’ve found it a fascinating experiment in game design. → Read More
Shenmue Has Aged Poorly, But It Is Still Special To Me
This year I bought Shenmue for the third time. I bought it despite knowing, having played it and its sequel three times, that in many ways it is a trial to play. But it’s special to me anyway, as it is to probably millions of others. It’s a relatively new phenomenon, games following you through your life like this. Before, they were tied to one console and one point in time. Now they have the… → Read More
A Straightforward Guide To Parental Controls On Game Consoles
All gamer parents want video games to be a positive part of family life, and parental controls can help achieve that with minimal arguments. Parental controls on consoles are something that you never think about until you need them. When you have a video-game-obsessed eight-year-old on your hands who sulks every time you tell them to turn the damn thing off and come to the dinner table, they… → Read More
A Pinball Metroidvania Is One Of The Year's Most Wonderful Surprises
I’ve just finished a super little game called Yoku’s Island Express on my Switch, a pinball Metroidvania featuring a tiny red ant rolling a lil’ rock around. → Read More
Video Game Becomes Popular, World Panics
In the past few months, a video game has become popular among young people, prompting experts around the world to decide that there must be something dangerous about it. → Read More
My Most Embarrassing E3 Encounter With A Gaming Celebrity
I would like to tell you about a mortifying encounter I recently had with a very well known figure in video games. It’s a better story if you don’t know who it is until the end. → Read More