Critical Distance | Where’s all the good writing about games?

Critical Distance Fansite Jam Roundup: March 2026 Welcome back sickos. Our second not-quite-annual Fansite Jam has drawn to a close, and now it’s time to showcase the results! This year we have six submissions to share (including one of my o…

Critical Distance proudly presents the showcase roundup for our second Fansite Jam!

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March 1st Welcome back readers. Thanks for the shout-out, Edwin : ) And a huge thanks as well to our community at large. Over the last few days you have rallied and helped to put us back into the black. If t…

This week: A staggering 30 articles, encompassing queer theory, spectrum games, communities of play, fangames, and a whole lot more. The Game Boy Color comes up more than once:

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March 1st Welcome back, readers. Lots of outstanding writing this week. I’m at a loss for the attendant clever metacommentary to string it all together this week, so just read on and see for yourself! …

You can find Natalie's piece - and over a dozen other great pieces - in the March 1, 2020 roundup here (all links verified!):

critical-distance.com/2020/03/01/m...

Kentucky Route Zero Is the Rare Story that Sheds Light on the Experiences of Millennials of Color Kentucky Route Zero Is the Rare Story that Sheds Light on the Experiences of Millennials of Color

ON THIS DAY in 2020: @heartimecia.bsky.social highlights Kentucky Route Zero‘s attention to the particular cycle of enmeshed, intergenerational poverty and debt experienced by families and millennials of color.

www.avclub.com/kentucky-rou...

February 28th Take your time before rushing ahead: it’s this week in videogame blogging! Superhot The release of Superhot has many reviewers drawing comparisons with action movies, not simply because of it…

You can find Velázquez's work - and the work of well over a dozen insightful writers - here (all links verified!):

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These posts are well worth a read today.

www.nymgamer.com?p=13557

Velázquez has a few other posts at NYMG on the subject of war and games.

www.nymgamer.com?p=13488

ON THIS DAY in 2016: Ashley J. Velázquez for NYMG (@saffista.bsky.social's brainchild) on This War of Mine.

www.nymgamer.com?p=13072

February 27th Last year I took over the reins of TWIVGB when Ben went gallivanting off to GDC; now a year later (holy shit it’s been a year), I’m doing the same. So here’s This Week in Videogam…

You can find Ben's writing and over a dozen other thoughtful pieces of games criticism in 2011 here (all links verified!):

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ON THIS DAY IN 2011: CD founder @afterclimate.com.au mused on the reasons for a lack of criticism about multiplayer games. He followed it up with the beginning of a series on Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

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February 26th We’ve been holding out for a hero, and we’re not gonna take it anymore. It’s time for This Week in Videogame Blogging! Love is a battlefield, and we keep paying for map packs. Pau…

You can check out the rest of that roundup here (all links verified!):

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Today's post comes from our February 26, 2012 roundup, where Brainy Gamer's Michael Abbott suggests that discussions of DearEsther’s influences should include Soviet montage:

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We're stoked to introduce a new feature we're calling "On This Day," where we share a great piece of writing from games criticism past. The way it works is simple: every day from here on out, we'll try to share an article from our roundup archives for the corresponding day of the month.

Good morning friends! Thank you for sharing Zach's post and call to action. We've all but smashed our goal overnight! This will help us stabilize and start doing more cool stuff... starting now!

Thanks again, and stay tuned for new editions of the weekly and monthly roundups coming soon!

Another way to help out is to join our Discord (link in the OP)! Even with all of the volatility of that platform lately it is still the best place to chat with games critics and scholars and volunteer to help with CD events and jams, and to talk directly with CD editors and curators.

Times are tough, of course; there are other ways for you to help us out! The first is simple: share these posts! If you know people who love learning about great new games writing who haven't heard about us, let them know! Let's make 2026 a great year for games writing curation and archival.

Get more from Critical Distance on Patreon creating a community resource for game criticism

The long and short of it is: we are looking to bump our Patreon support up by about $100/month to reach a point where we can become truly sustainable. If just 20 people signed up for our Circle tier ($5/mo), we would hit that goal in no time at all.

www.patreon.com/c/critdistan...

2025 Critical Distance Status Once again, it’s time to check in on the finances for Critical Distance.   Last year, I said the finances were on the brink of stability. We never actually achieved that stability: we are unli…

Hey folks! Board member Zach has written up a quick update re: how we are doing. Please check it out and share widely: critical-distance.com/2026/02/25/2...

This week: 17 fresh picks on online culture, queer community, PS1 RPGs, and lots more:
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This week: seventeen fresh picks on Relooted, Kiwami 3, Nioh 3, and lots more:
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Broken links should be fixed now! Thanks for your patience.

Thanks--we've been having trouble all day with the platform we use to organize articles on the backend. Working on fixing things now.

This week: 23 picks on preservation, protagonism, and perserverance:

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The Month in Videogame Blogging, January 2026 | Critical Distance Get more from Critical Distance on Patreon

First monthly roundup of the year! Eight stand-out selections from our weekly roundups, plus some site updates and project prospects (this post is free for everyone! please share it widely)!

www.patreon.com/posts/149709...

This week: some FA, some FO:

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Yep, it’s a problem we’ve been trying to fix since November. We have no ETA on it

This week: Eighteen new picks on coinflip games, RPGs for sickos, bumpslash design, and lots more:

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This week: Palestine Skating Game, Pathologic 3, Kiwami 3, and lots more:

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Fansite Jam!!! Fansite Jam!!!
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