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Austin Gallagher

@austingallagher

Mostly game thoughts. Contributor @Checkpoint Gaming. I'm angry at the government and my tummy hurts

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11.09.2023
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Latest posts by Austin Gallagher @austingallagher

I wonder how loud of an uproar there will be from (likely small market of) people who've repositioned their libraries around their PCs and neglected grabbing a PS5, especially considering the consistent price hikes.

Likely a good long-term decision for the brand, regardless.

05.03.2026 22:49 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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In these dark days I'm glad we can rely on one of the last bastions of reliable video game news. Dominoes.

05.03.2026 00:28 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Crimson Desert feels overstuffed to bursting, and in some ways that was very exciting. In others, a bit more of a mixed bag? Here's my thoughts from the preview;

04.03.2026 22:22 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Me, less than a month ago:

The churn of live-service releases to farewell jpegs isn’t just a shame for the individual games it affects; it's a broader cultural vandalism.

Years of work by talented artists result in jobs being lost and another game being thrown on the pile of free-to-play misfires.

03.03.2026 22:13 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There's plenty to critique about both Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, but it sure doesn't bode well when the heir apparent to the Xbox throne just peaces out and we get a fucking AI booster in the top spot.

20.02.2026 23:36 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

There's also an implicit acknowledgement of the audience of the cartoon where Prince Andrew apparently needs to be labelled for the point to be made

20.02.2026 03:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

first they came for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and I said nothing, but i did laugh quite a lot

20.02.2026 00:06 πŸ‘ 10197 πŸ” 1396 πŸ’¬ 121 πŸ“Œ 38
Preview
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 Review - Last call Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is the latest narrative adventure game from Don’t Nod, which has now launched its second and final instalment.
18.02.2026 12:15 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 Review - You can't go home again There is a deliberate nature to Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. The game implores you to take it slow and appreciate the little things.

Each part were some of my favourite reviews to write of last year

18.02.2026 12:14 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Unfortunately our lives are hell and science has left us behind

14.02.2026 13:30 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Idk if Coeliac or just Gluten Intolerance, but if you're the latter there's a thing (in Australia at least) called GluteGuard that supposedly works approximately like this.

If you're coeliac tho we're unfortunately still shit outta luck

14.02.2026 13:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The entire live-service era has been disastrous for multiplayer gaming's ability to create cultural artefacts

12.02.2026 04:30 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Likely thing for the guy who wrote Deadpool & Wolverine to think tbh

12.02.2026 02:28 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Corporate consolidation is horrible, but have you considered that Master Chief would be a great dive tank?

11.02.2026 07:17 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

They should just put John Halo in it if they're gonna be owned by Microsoft

11.02.2026 07:15 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Rolled credits on Cairn earlier today.

Few games connect you so physically with a player character, and the drama of skin, bone, and perserverance could not work in another medium.

I'm a climber, and while that elevates Cairn for me, it's still a one of a kind gem and universal recommendation.

11.02.2026 06:04 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

As a coeliac can you please drop the title I'm fascinated by this it sounds hilarious

29.01.2026 04:14 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

100%. There would be way more work involved in this but if this was a 6v6 game I think you'd absolutely be adding some much needed juice.

29.01.2026 00:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
After a tumultuous lead-up to launch, Highguard shows promise The Game Awards much memed "one last thing" Highguard isn’t an immediate slam dunk, but it isn’t a total misfire either.

Seems like I'm more positive on Highguard than many others. There's stuff here I would love to see how it takes shape in 6+ months.

Should this be a 1.0 release after a TGA reveal? Probably not. Is it worth checking out and seeing if you vibe it, yeah. My impressions;

29.01.2026 00:14 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Unrelated to the critique thing - it's funny how I think I know exactly what game you're talking about.

28.01.2026 15:14 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Sometimes unfortunately you gotta lay it out plain on this side of the coin. It sucks, I take no joy in it, but if you don't you're not doing your job as a critic.

28.01.2026 07:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There's a kernal of something here, and I've broadly enjoyed what I've played so far β€” but that gear up phase feels so extremely 'first draft'. When it's actually firing on all cylinders w/ a good raid it's actually pretty good. Good enough to survive? An entirely different question.

27.01.2026 11:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

My armchair dev suggestion is that I think you could reduce map size by about 20% and add an additional player to both teams and it would help that downtime problem. I don't dislike the 'soft' rounds, but I think you're not forced to compete for loot w/ enemies before the Shieldbreaker spawns.

27.01.2026 04:17 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Many eyes are rightfully on the US at the moment, but today in Australia we're marching as well. While it is for different causes, we stand together against the rise of fascism, racism, and right wing hate.

January 26 is not a day to celebrate. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.

26.01.2026 00:45 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I regret to inform you that you can now find me in even more places than before.

25.01.2026 23:21 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The guy that runs the Reddit where people post about patting their cat on the butt like bongos has put his foot down

25.01.2026 00:44 πŸ‘ 13026 πŸ” 2149 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 1

As far as I'm aware there's also the whole Don't Nod vs. Deck 9 drama, which adds to the almost parasocial aspect of people's perspective but towards devs

23.01.2026 08:40 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu may be an offence under Australia’s new hate speech laws, Greens warn Anthony Albanese and Tony Burke say the laws are needed to protect Australians – particularly the Jewish community

Perhaps the most disgraceful of all the β€œnational security” laws that have been passed since Sept 11 2001.

Albanese would have been a good, compliant minister in the Howard govt.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

21.01.2026 07:53 πŸ‘ 365 πŸ” 149 πŸ’¬ 43 πŸ“Œ 18

Lots of words to admit you don't get why people are rejecting AI followed by a mealy mouthed appeal to 'get over it' when it comes to people's very real ethical and environmental concerns regarding AI use.

21.01.2026 07:37 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

Wow that Stefani stuff is way more of a bummer than I expected without context

21.01.2026 00:25 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0