Ultimately it's entertainment people just have fun reading them, and yeah that's like 90% of the economy. Mcdonalds burgers aren't better than any other burger, it's just a fun psychological experience that's why it's a huge business.
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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this writer desperately needs a vacation and needs to stop writing gaming reviews cause apparently it's made him an overly dramatic, cynical weirdo.
"*Can There Be More Professional Game Reviewers Again?
It’s hard to see how. That takes money, and we’ve all been trained to not pay money for reviews. I used to actually subscribe to game magazines, with actual dollars! I haven’t done it in a long time.
So whose fault is it that game reviews are pointless now? It’s mine. And probably yours.*"
just because you're tired and jaded doesn't mean everything is hopeless. the bit about the steam reviews was extremely telling, honestly. this is a whine-piece. nothing more.
I like the part where reviewers have a scale then use less than half that scale. Like 5 star movie reviews where half of films are 4 star or higher and 99% are 3 star or higher. Maybe if a movie has an incoherent story, is obnoxious AND offensive, and sounds like it was filmed in a well then it'll be 2.5 stars. To get 2 stars it has to be something that doesn't even qualify as a movie and thus won't get ranked.
I want a game review site where there’s a number and it’s legit. Like
1/10 - Irredeemably bad. The music is terrible, the sounds are grating (or missing), the visuals hurt to look at (or are completely boring, which might be worse.) controls make it frustrating to navigate. I also give this to bland games with extremely predatory monetization, where the goal of the game is “make as much money as possible from whales”. Usually a mediocre mobile game skinned to a popular IP, maybe with some of the same aspects as that other game, but a huge wall where suddenly it’s spendin’ time.
2/10 - this is rough. Like, really rough. Something about it is either unique, funny, or novel, so it gets a point for that. Overall, you’re proooobably gonna want to skip this. It’s going to be tough for even big updates to fix the flaws in this game.
3/10 - this game has some redeeming qualities, but huge flaws as well. Worth it to try if you can get a deal, but needs a lot of work, and won’t be for everyone. Probable skip for most folks.
4/10 - A good game with many flaws, but worth picking up if you’re really into this kind of game. Maybe this has been done better by other games, or maybe there’s glitches. It’s not terrible, but below average.
5/10 - a perfectly serviceable game. If you like this series, you’ll certainly be playing it. If you like this game type, it’s worth checking out. A lot of CoDs and BF games have fallen here since BF4 for me.
6/10 - A good game. It’s good! Above average, and definitely worth playing if you like this type. This is the most stacked category for games I’ve played overall.
7/10 - Pick this game up, it’s very good. If this is on a console with a smaller library (N64, Dreamcast, 32x, GameCube) deeefintiely pick it up.
8/10 - A True Great. Few or no flaws, very fun. Great controls, interesting graphics, fun story, overall just a stellar game. Play this.
9/10 - almost perfect in every way. Maybe perfect, but a genre that might limit people. Or incredible but very difficult to play without spending a lot of money (Alyx comes to mind when I say that, but that’s an eight for me)
10/10 - Should almost never be given out. Incredible flawless perfection that everyone in the world with most of their limbs, sight, and vision in tact MUST check out. I have very few games (or movies, shows, books) that get a 10. We don’t need to grade things like their parents are getting a report card, some 10s I see given out are baffling.
Angry Joe uses a system like this. I quite like his long form reviews because he does seem to be pretty fair and will point out redeeming qualities in games he otherwise did not like.
It’s always been like this. The pro reviewers get wined and dined by the publishers and consider themselves part of the industry (Dorito Pope!), so it’s not in their interest to rock the boat. The days of renegade and experimental reviews are long gone.
I'm sure some members of the community flipping their shit when the game gets a review "it didn't deserve" also plays part in that.
That, and let’s plays and streamers ate the bottom out of the review market. People would much rather watch some gameplay by a neutral party (a person just playing the game, not writing a review) and judge for themselves whether they want to play it or not.
The other issue with reviews (solved by LPs/streamers as well) is the problem of taste. Even if you had a perfect world where reviewer corruption didn’t exist, you’d still have to find reviewers whose tastes match your own. If a game you were anticipating gets a poor review, you have to decide whether it actually deserved that review or if the reviewer just doesn’t like the style of the game, but you might like it.
This last one might seem easy enough to overcome with genre-based expert reviewers but I don’t think it is. There have been a lot of times where someone told me “Oh you like Roguelikes? You should try ___” and I really didn’t like their suggestion. There are a million different dimensions to game design and many of them cross the boundaries of genres, blurring the lines. Thus it becomes extremely hard to find other people (never mind expert reviewers) with matching tastes and get trustworthy game recommendations from them.
Game journalism died the day total biscuit did.
It died before that, with things like the Driv3r debacle.
Modern YouTube reviewers are an improvement over the access journalism of the print mags of the past.
I just watch some gameplay videos on YouTube if I’m vaguely interested.
This. And a few different people too if it looks interesting but maybe the person playing is bad.
Some of my favorite games had amazing and fun core gameplay but we're panned by reviewers.
So many different opinions so trying yourself is best
I think in things like games, movies, etc it's good to find a journalist or two that often share your preferences or you know when they differ & #s are pointless especially when people get fired for giving a1 or 2 review
In france we have an independent video game magazine with reviews I trust. They don't always bother putting a score to videogames and sometimes they don't follow their own system. Their best rated games are games nobody ever heard about (I remember a 15/10 for an obscure managing game years ago).
They have been there for decades but they go almost bankrupt every 2 years or so.
It's nice to have them around.
Canardpc ? i like Origami as well, ex Gamekult journalists
Yes I was talking about canardPC. I knew about the tragic destiny of gamekult but didn't know about Origami. I'll check that now !
Reviews and rating systems are by and large shit everywhere at this stage of capitalism. I'd actually say I trust Steam review sections more than most websites that have them anymore... It almost feels like a boomer af thing to leave a review on something, so I have to question the sanity of the people leaving the reviews, and if they can't be trusted, why would I trust their opinion of the product?
Or You Can Just Read Steam Reviews
Every indie dev at some point gets supermad about Steam reviews. However, 99 times out of 100, skimming the reviews on the game’s front page will tell you everything you need to know
And mostly read the negative one to see if there's any issue with the feature or lack thereof, or whether there's any performance issue or bug, anything you won't tolerate. Dev will tell you the stuff is good anyway. I rarely read from review site these day, and i find Yahtzee being very helpful in that he will be very enthusiastically tell you how some part of the game don't work, which is exactly what i'm looking for.
I used to think yahtzee was amazing then I realized he's stuck in some late teen angst phase and can't stand his content. Watching someone just play the game has always been the best way for me to assess. Streams and non famous YouTube videos are so good for this.
That's understandable! He got the reputation of "hating all game and being cynical" for a reason, but if you can vibe with that and make it work for you it's very reliably consistent. After all, he's been this way for decade, so in one way or another i expected a jaded brits.
That's because that's the character he plays.
Your basically falling for the trap of assuming the act is real.
Its like thinking the angry video game nerd is actually just a man child with no emotion control.
Its literally just acting.
Yahtzee does an amazing job of calling himself out when he fucks up, his side work is very level headed and he has a really solid foundation of understanding of the development and writing side of gaming. Which is a lot more then many game reviewers.
If you don't like his material that's fine, he's basically a comedian. Not everyone is going to like his routine. But that's all it is.
Yeah, I usually just read 2 or 3 positive and 2 or 3 negative reviews and look at the % score of the game. It's all you need to know if a game is for you or not. Also, follow people who have similar taste to you, in my case, that's Force Gaming and Iron Pineapple, whatever they play and really like, there's a good chance I'll like it as well. On top of that, I now have the habit of playing Steam Next Fest demos as much as I can to discover new games.
This was a pretty dumb read. Lots of things just slightly wrong and mostly complaining.
First of all game reviews have always been about finding a core that you can connect with your audience about as with all reviews. Maybe its the game genre, it maybe it is a style or an emotion you have at your core.
And to that there are new trusted reviewers all the time, you just aren't personally hearing about them.
A new one that has gained following is IronPineapple who set their core to darksouls like games but because of their willingness to flub the definition a bit they have character and people have flocked to them for trusted takes about skill based games.
RyeGames is becoming a trusted voice in acting as a living games historian.
No new reviewers? Bullshit.
The one thing I agree on is how useful steam reviews are. Yes or no and show the percents and see what people said. Almost always there is a synopsis review and a more emotional review to tell you if its for you or not.
Came to say this.
One of my favorite review sites are just blogs that review games regardless of release year. They don't give a shit about whatever bullshit new fortnite skin is out or trying to chase after ad dollars.
They just play the game that looks mildly interesting, give their take, post it and go pick another game.
https://the-point-n-clicker.blogspot.com/?m=1
My favorite: he's reviewing games from 1980s-1990s.
The moment you see a pokemon or a cod title get a 9/10, you understand how these reviews are shit.
Oh god yeah. I LOVE Pokémon but the highest a Pokémon game has gotten from me is a 7/10 (Smoon, Bwhite) in many years. bwhite had a great story with great mechanics and great QoL. Smoon had EVERY Pokémon in it and was the last game to do so. The beginning was an awful slog, but I loved all the locations, music, QoL features, and the endgame was incredible. Loved Battle Tower and how simple the game made to see the IVs of your Pokémon, while still keeping it challenging to breed a near perfect or perfect one.
The Switch main line games are mediocre to abysmal (ScarVio are neigh unplayable on the Switch) and the Legends game are good: 6/10 for Arceus and I just started ZA or whatever on an emulator and don’t have an opinion at all on it yet, other than it sure does look nice at 1440p/60 hahaha
Every indie dev at some point gets supermad about Steam reviews. However, 99 times out of 100, skimming the reviews on the game’s front page will tell you everything you need to know.
I think I get both sides of the matter. Some devs seem to be mad simply because the review is not under their control, and the player isn't shy saying what's wrong with the game. But some reviews are like, "2/10 Chinese restaurant, there were no burgers".
Tbh, to me nonsense negative reviews are a good sign. They don't influence my opinion about the product ("I'm not looking for burgers so I don't care that this guy was disappointed that there were no burgers"), but they show me that the company doesn't force the deletion of bad reviews.
I've had it a few times before that e.g. I went to a doctor with perfect 5-star-reviews, only to find out that they suck and they sue anyone who leaves negative reviews.
If I see perfect 5-stars on something, that's when I get really sceptical. I'd never go to a doctor, a restaurant or a craftsman with perfect 5-star score.
I got lost and wandered into the world's creepiest cemetery, where the headstones just had names and star ratings. Freaked me out. When I got home I tried to leave the cemetery a bad review on Yelp, but as my hand hovered over the 'one star' button I felt this distant chill ...
There's always a relevant xkcd.
I think it's a good signal for us users, but for game devs it's still a problem. Indie games get less reviews, and a negative review means less exposure — the number might not mean anything, but plenty people still act like it did.
Plus game devving is artistic expression, and if there's something that pisses plenty creators off, it's when their creations get misunderstood.
That was my favorite game as a kid
IMO due paid reviews and companies being too scared of getting sued for defamation or similar reasons I also do not trust "professional" reviews any more and stopped reading them. But while less professional and more subjective, I almost always read user reviews on plattforms that allow them like Steam on PC or the Play Store on mobile. At least you can tell if there are some issues that most people seem to hate and then you can judge for yourself if that is a dealbreaker to you or if you're gonna gice it a shot anyway.
Way better than any review is a free demo for an actual hands-on experience. Or I also often look for some gameplay on YouTube, especially if there is no demo available.
There's demos for every game on the high seas
My complaining might just be sadness. When I was 25, I had the time and energy to dig into a game like this and find all the cool secrets everyone swears are there. Now I’m old, which is not great.
Same here :-/
I like reading the RockPaperShotgun reviews. Nice writing, no score, usually some interesting points about the game going deeper than what a trailer shows.
RPS is one of two video game sites I subscribe to, the other being Jank, which is a direct, independent spinoff of RPS. They have a consistent house style that values the fun and creativity of good prose (even if they sometimes fail to reach that standard). I imagine some people would find their style hamfisted, but it feels authentic to me in a way that almost every other publication doesn't. They don't have that homogenizing tone to their voice that's reaching for the superficial cultural moment and SEO optimization that outlets like IGN have.
I used to love reading their video game diaries. They do them seldomly these days, if at all.
Stuff like this.
Man, i just finished reading a review that spent half the time complaining that this top down merchant sim wasn't Kingdom come deliverance 2. Professionals really suck.
Dude discovers tastes are subjective and hard to describe with numbers.
Dude discovers tastes are subjective and hard to describe with numbers.
read the article, there's other points raised
The main point seems to be that individual reviewers don't have recognizable voices anymore, but honestly I don't really buy the idea that reviews ever "worked" in the way that this writer seems to want them to. Any individual number was always meaningless except for knowing whether a specific person liked the thing at a specific moment in time. Maybe some people were lucky enough to know a reviewer who reliably predicted how they'd feel about the product, such that they could just look at the number and be good to go, but IMO the "feature list" has always been the most interesting part of the review, and it hasn't gone anywhere.
I do think the author missed an opportunity to study how critics work and how they're perceived in other fields, media literacy is a lot more prevalent in other art forms like cinema or literature, which leads to more value being given to reviews, which is lacking in the video game industry imo
Why do you assume I haven’t?
To be fair, you may have read it, but I bet most of us didn't.
I feel like game reviews kinda died off with 'total biscuit' RIP. Was was good about his reviews is you could understand his personal tastes which may not have been the same as yours but you could still vibe out if it was good or not. Like he might forinstance give a average for a bolmer shooter because it wasn't his vibe. But you'd know 'oh if he's giving it an average' that's actually pretty good considering. But with IGN etc, you get different people reviewing stuff and then everything becomes arbitrary.
I don't feel it in games as much, but I still haven't found any film critic whose tastes match mine since Roger Ebert passed, so I kind of know what you're feeling. Having that one person you trust completely is so good.