"So I was trying to write reviews of a bunch of hit indie games I played recently. Then I got overwhelmed by the pointlessness of video game reviews these days and had to take a long nap.
And, I mean, pro reviews are pointless, right? If a game has a big enough budget or following and isn’t actively on fire, it gets a 9. If it is a competently made but low-budget indie, like mine, it gets a 7. If you read the actual review (nobody does), it’s a collection of facts about the game you could easily get from watching the trailer. Throw in a couple of comments from the reviewer about whether they like this genre or not, mix in 3 or 4 ham-handed political comments, and you got a review! Hit send!"
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 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.
He also made an indie game and is running a coop games media business now called “second wind” after the escapist owners opted to foot gun themselves and cause literally the whole staff to quit and spin up their own business together. Now all his coworkers are also co-owners.
Good dude who puts his money where is mouth is.
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.
