I reviewed Avatar Legends, a free-form, fast-paced fighting game that might be lacking outside online play, but makes up for it with incredibly spicy core systems. I'm really hoping the game draws in some fresh blood: fighting games can be for everyone, and this one is worth the effort.

Avatar: The Last Airbender officially has its first terrific video game

Avatar Legends is the best game the series has ever had

polygon.com

Thanks so much to @jessicogs.bsky.social for greenlighting my first article at GameSpot! I wrote about Meccha Chameleon and how the game embraces the fun of making things in a moment where human creativity is being offloaded to AI nonsense.

Jessica Cogswell 🌸@jessicogs.bsky.social · 3w ago

Had the privilege of editing the wonderful @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social for the first time and man, what an absolutely banger of a first piece for GameSpot! Highly highly recommend folks read this one 🎨✨ www.gamespot.com/articles/in-...

Had the privilege of editing the wonderful @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social for the first time and man, what an absolutely banger of a first piece for GameSpot! Highly highly recommend folks read this one 🎨✨ www.gamespot.com/articles/in-...

In An Era Of AI Slop, Meccha Chameleon Embraces Human-Crafted Chaos

Meccha Chameleon is a charming, wonky creation about making charming, wonky creations. It’s human through and through.

gamespot.com

Nolan's The Odyssey achieves the seemingly impossible: it finds new magic in a millennia-old story. Both grandiose and granular, this bold vision seamlessly binds myth with historical truth. You wouldn't think a legend everyone knows could have a "twist," but this version does, and it's brilliant.

But Why Tho?@butwhytho.net · 3w ago

REVIEW: ‘The Odyssey’ Is a Homeric Triumph

D-topia asks big questions about the possibility of utopia in a world increasingly run by machines. But its commitment to coziness and comfort means that it never really confronts the thorny issues it only gestures at. My review. www.polygon.com/d-topia-anna...

Annapurna’s brand-new game is way too nuanced for its own good

D-topia puzzlingly avoids taking a stance

polygon.com

I lost a small chunk of my sanity reviewing Chainsmoker Cat, a show that puts weighty depictions of nicotine addiction next to cat girls and shitty jokes about well, shit. Add in impressive animation and an out-of-pocket masturbation joke to get a very confusing/ uneven 23 minutes of television.

This controversial new Netflix anime features cat girls, addiction, and lots of poop jokes

Nothing in the world can prepare you for this bizarre new Netflix anime.

polygon.com

Intense sapphic yearning with actual payoff, in this economy? While it takes a bit to get going, Botan goes from a seemingly straightforward hobby show, to an artfully presented will-they-won’t-they full of well considered imagery and double meanings. My review for the series at But Why Tho?:

But Why Tho?@butwhytho.net · last mo.

REVIEW: ‘Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk’ Blooms Into a Must-Watch Romance

I will be ever grateful to Garrett for running this and my Mordor/Watch Dogs piece, but also for just letting me review like… Sid Meier’s Starships or whatever. The big critical swings were important, but the other thing that was developing a regular writing rhythm (and putting some cash in wallet).

Suriel Vazquez@suriel.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I also don't think it's hyperbole to say @austinwalker.bsky.social's review of Battlefield: Hardline is one of THE touchstones for modern games crit. www.avclub.com/battlefield-...

At Paste, I got to gush over Fire Punch. I've never written so much for a blog (in the afternoon I pitched it, no less) without it feeling like work, and I have @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social to thank for taking me on. That's the type of ship they ran & it'll be missed. www.avclub.com/fire-punch-a...

The World Isn’t Ready For An Anime Adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Fire Punch… But Someone Should Make It Already

With Tatsuki Fujimoto's star on the rise, it's time for someone to have the guts to adapt his thorniest, most controversial work: Fire Punch.

avclub.com

Aftermath@aftermath.site · 3mo ago

Paste ends the games coverage that gave so many writers their start aftermath.site/paste-games-en...

too much of the industry is overly concerned about the games that people already know and are searching for because it's a business, I get that, but someone needs to care about the games that people *should* know about, and I was always allowed that chance to tell the people what they should know.

hey. thanks! thanks to everybody who wrote for us, thanks to Eli, Moises, Holly, Jenn, Gita, and Maddy for helping edit it, thanks to Kirk for passing the baton, thanks to Chris for starting it up, and thanks to everybody who ever read it. see ya around.

If you had anything you were working on for Paste that needs a home, please reach out to @skyboxcritics.com It's lousy that we have to say this every couple of months, but we'll do what we can to help out as many people as we can.

paste games closing is disastrous. they were first place that offered me stable freelance work and their presence was invaluable to a writer like me. was down to review james bond but that’s not happening now lol. i dunno if ill be able to write games crit going forward, the field is basically gone

Paste published my very first game review in its print games section in 2007. Paste Games has done so much for games crit and everyone in it over the years. Sad news.

Games criticism owes so much to Garrett Martin. Quietly one of the most influential people in the space, a guy who was happy to publish anyone that had something interesting to say. A shame AV Club is shuttering its games coverage. End of an era, long live Paste Games

Well, my turn to make one of these posts. Yesterday was my last day at The A.V. Club. I got laid off and the site’s Games section is basically gone. It was a pleasure working with Garrett and our freelancers. If anyone has opportunities for games/TV/film journalism or consulting please let me know.

Puzzle-strategy hybrid Titanium Court is a true original, and one of this year’s best video games. Our review: www.avclub.com/titanium-cou...

Titanium Court is a most rare video game vision

Puzzle-strategy hybrid Titanium Court is a true original, and one of this year’s best video games. Our review:

avclub.com

Today marks 20 years of people complaining about Mother 3 not getting localized, and I celebrated the occasion by writing about how the complainers have a very real point:

20 years later, Nintendo's weird RPG Mother 3 remains the greatest game never sold

Mother 3, the sequel to Earthbound, came out 20 years ago today--but not in America, where it's never been released.

avclub.com

Ben McKenzie deserved a Hollywood ending after debunking crypto in front of Congress www.avclub.com/everyones-ly...

Ben McKenzie channels Frank Capra in his crypto doc, but the government refuses a happy ending

Ben McKenzie channels Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra in his directorial debut Everyone's Lying To You For Money, but the ending isn't happy.

avclub.com

I just finished the latest Paranormasight, and ya its definitely one of the best games of the year so far. Thank you Square for your sicko release tendencies and letting that team make another anthology period piece murder mystery about folklore and the weight of history.

Not The A.V. Club Games@nottheavclubgames.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Hey: whatcha playing? @garrettmartin.bsky.social @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social @dialacina.com check in with what they’ve been doing this week. www.avclub.com/new-games-re...

At PAX East I had the pleasure of talking with horror developers about how the genre may have some answers to getting the game industry out of its current funk.

The video game industry is broken, and the horror genre may be able to fix it

The video game industry is in big trouble, and if what we saw at PAX East is any indication, horror games might be what save it.

avclub.com

i wrote about how internalized misogyny kept me from playing one of the greatest games of all time

Kotaku@kotaku.com · 4mo ago

I Finally Tried Dark Souls And It's Even Better Than Everyone Said https://kotaku.com/dark-souls-rpg-nostalgia-taurus-demon-2000682716

We've rounded up the best anime of winter 2026, including comedies about "torture," battle shonen brawls, and a must-watch drama. www.avclub.com/best-anime-w...

The 10 best anime of winter 2026

We've summed up the best anime of winter 2026, including comedies about "torture," battle shonen brawls, and a must-watch drama.

avclub.com

Live-action One Piece continues to be one of the best adaptations around because it takes a very sincere approach to its source material that gets at its underlying sense of kindness and adventure while also understanding the limitations of its new medium. Also, Chopper is goddamn adorable.

One Piece season 2 was worth the long wait

One Piece is finally back with a great second season that once again captures the spirit of its source material.

avclub.com

The very bluntly named Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games To Put Food On The Table continues to be one of the most interesting shows in a stacked season, and I wrote about how its thoughtful visual presentation confronts anime's tendency for fan service.

Shiboyugi and its death games violently confront anime voyeurism

Shiboyugi is a death game show that critiques commonplace anime voyeurism and fan service via its cold camera work.

avclub.com

I wrote about Medalist and how if you want to learn the strategy behind figure skating (or want to become deeply emotionally invested and cry about figure skating), just in time for the final Olympic competitions, then it’s the show for you.

The A.V. Club@avclub.com · 6mo ago

This series explains the strategic nuances of skating to let you get the most out of the games.

For Love Week at The A.V. Club, I got a chance to write about the excellent VN Misericorde and how its queer hot mess disaster protagonist struggles against her own deeply entrenched religious beliefs.

In Misericorde, queer love and attraction are weighed down by the cross

Misericorde is a sharp visual novel about 15th century nuns that conveys the crushing weight of queer repression.

avclub.com

I got a chance to write about last week’s episode of Jujutsu Kaisen which, despite my issues with the show in general, delivered the kind of woman-led badassery that battle shonen so rarely give us. Incredible direction, sharp animation, and some hilarious use of slow mo (punch that twink!).

Jujutsu Kaisen's most incisive episode cuts the patriarchy to bits

Jujutsu Kaisen's latest episode was arguably the series' best, a sharply directed action scene that gave us a reason to care.

avclub.com

Silksong's secret final stretch has stuck with me, and not just because it was Team Cherry at its most sadistic. Like the rest of the game its difficulty feels quite purposeful.

Not The A.V. Club Games@nottheavclubgames.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Getting Hollow Knight: Silksong's "true ending" is a brutal process that reflects the difficulty of changing a seemingly unchangeable world. www.avclub.com/hollow-knigh...