Kenneth Shepard

New York, United States

Freelance Writer and Critic at Freelance

Writer at Kotaku

writer @kotaku | [email protected] | @normandyfmshow | 🏳️‍🌈 he/him | ears still ringing, arms still swinging

Articles

Fans Are Worried The Last Of Us May Have Skipped The Game’s Most Important Scene

1 week ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

We’re only one episode into The Last of Us’ second season, and it’s already taken some creative liberties with the source material. Similarly to the start of the game, “Future Days,” the first episode of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us Part II’s revenge story, mostly takes place in the Jackson settlement where Joel and Ellie live. However, the episode also included several scenes that originally featured much later in the narrative, shown here as flashbacks.
Fans Are Worried The Last Of Us May Have Skipped The Game’s Most Important Scene

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Kenneth Shepard

Fans Are Worried The Last Of Us May Have Skipped The Game’s Most Important SceneTue, April 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM UTCYahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key TakeawaysWe’re only one episode into The Last of Us’ second season, and it’s already taken some creative liberties with the source material.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Final Patch Sends The RPG Off With A Bang

1 week ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

After almost two years, Larian Studios is finally done patching Baldur’s Gate 3. The team released the game’s eighth and final patch today, April 15, and it brings some long-awaited features like crossplay multiplayer, photo mode, and 12 new subclasses.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Final Patch Sends The RPG Off With A Bang

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Kenneth Shepard

NowIt’s unclear why Microsoft and Bethesda have decided to keep this a poorly kept secret ahead of its release, but a load of reputable sources are now reporting that they are about to drop the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake quite literally a week from now, the one beginning April 21. This has been …
HBO's The Last Of Us Got One Of The Game's Best Scenes Early And Nailed It

1 week ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

Yesterday, the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us premiered, and I had my gripes with this first episode. HBO’s approach to The Last of Us Part II’s story has stripped away a lot of the mystery and tension present in the game, but I do want to give some props to the team behind the show for faithfully recreating one of the best moments in Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic drama, even if it showed up much earlier than fans were probably expecting.
The Mass Effect And Dragon Age Teams ‘Didn’t Get Along,’ According To Ex-BioWare Dev

1 week ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

David Gaider, the co-founder of Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical developer Summerfall Studios, has opened up a bit more about his time at BioWare, where he served as the original lead writer on the Dragon Age series. Taking to social media, he chose to explain more about his decision to leave the studio in 2016 and the apparently tense relationship between the Mass Effect and Dragon Age teams within the company.
HBO's The Last Of Us Got One Of The Game's Best Scenes Early And Nailed It

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Kenneth Shepard

Yesterday, the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us premiered, and I had my gripes with this first episode. HBO’s approach to The Last of Us Part II’s story has stripped away a lot of the mystery and tension present in the game, but I do want to give some props to the team behind the show for faithfully recreating one of the best moments in Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic drama, even if it showed up much earlier than fans were probably expecting.
The Mass Effect And Dragon Age Teams ‘Didn’t Get Along,’ According To Ex-BioWare Dev

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Kenneth Shepard

9 Popular Gaming Franchises Where The Original Is BestA sequel is the natural means of evolution in a game series. A way to take what was good about the original and then build on that solid foundation …
The Last Of Us Season Two, Episode One Recap: Everybody Hates Joel

1 week ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

“Future Days,” the first episode of The Last of Us season two, opens with the closing moments of season one. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are standing on a hill with the Jackson settlement they’ll call home in the distance. Ellie, unconvinced by Joel’s story about raiders massacring the Firefly revolutionaries who were looking to make a cure for the cordyceps fungus, asks the smuggler to swear that everything he said is true. Joel hesitates and then says that he swears.
The Last Of Us, Season 2: The Kotaku Review

2 weeks ago | kotaku.com | Kenneth Shepard

In the years since The Last of Us Part II launched in 2020, I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon when people talk about Naughty Dog’s divisive sequel. Some people talk about Ellie’s revenge story in ways that seem incongruous with the game I experienced. Where I would call The Last of Us Part II a beautiful tragedy born of grief and ended by forgiveness, others claim that it’s a meaningless exercise in violent excess that turns a once-beloved video game icon into the unambiguous villain.