Help keep arts journalism alive.

We’re rebuilding theartsdesk to secure it as a bastion of real culture writing in the face of algorithmic recommendations and AI slop. Your participation is absolutely vital to this - subscribe today and be part of this movement.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY 

gaming
theartsdesk |

We are bowled over! 

We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the response to our appeal to help us relaunch and reboot has been something else.

Jon Turney |

For a couple of decades, the free video game America’s Army was a powerful recruitment aid for the US military. More than a shoot-em-up, players might find themselves dressing virtual wounds, struggling to co-ordinate tactics with their squad, and facing other supposedly realistic aspects of active service. The realism, of course, had one strict limit. If you died, you could reset the game and play again.

Steve O'Rourke
Rage 2 is a wacky Dayglo-infused post-apocalyptic world filled with various different factions who, for one reason or another, want you dead. Think…
Steve O'Rourke
Based on the 2006 book of the same name, and set in the same universe as the 2013 film adaptation, World War Z follows groups of survivors of a…
Steve O'Rourke
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is based on events that take place in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part film that came out in February. The story begins…

Help secure the future of arts journalism

In this era of algorithmic recommendation, opaquely sponsored content and AI slop, theartsdesk’s mission to preserve real journalistic and critical values has never been more important.

If you like what you see here, please join us in this mission.

Subscribing to the site will help us in our coming redesign and expansion.

If you do this before the 31st August this will be at our guaranteed founder’s rate: 
your subs will never increase again.

Subscribe now for £5 per month. 
or yearly for just £40.

Or if you simply want to support us with a one-off donation, you can do so here.

Steve O'Rourke
A rocky start for a new franchise that offers potential and problems in equal measure
Steve O'Rourke
Nearly a decade has passed since the last incarnation but little has changed in this stagnant shooter
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran series returns for another ambitious tour of duty
Steve O'Rourke
When home runs go horribly wrong
Steve O'Rourke
An ambitious Wild West odyssey that matches epic scale with benchmark skill
Steve O'Rourke
Solo rations have been relegated from this benchmark war series
Steve O'Rourke
It looks and plays great, but what’s new?
Alfred Quantrill
A comprehensive look at gaming present and future has surprisingly broad appeal
Steve O'Rourke
Swinging in the city with the arachnid avenger
Steve O'Rourke
High tech meets high calibre in this year’s list of gaming’s brightest sparks
Steve O'Rourke
A comprehensive management sim where you feed the exhibits, the punters and your bank balance
theartsdesk
In association with The Hospital Club's h.Club100 Awards, we're looking for the best cultural writers, bloggers and vloggers
Steve O'Rourke
A big budget interactive story where your decisions can flip the script
theartsdesk
Enter our competition to win a spectacular weekend at England's finest arts festival
Steve O'Rourke
Father-son adventure is a slick and gorgeous spectacle
Steve O'Rourke
God, guns and the great outdoors
Steve O'Rourke
Bring out your wild side in this strange survivalist simulation
Steve O'Rourke
Why bob and weave when you can ground and pound?
Steve O'Rourke
Quality nearly matches quantity
Steve O'Rourke
The force is less strong with this one
Steve O'Rourke
Little blocks, big heroes, loads of fun
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran franchise returns for another bout of epic war games
theartsdesk
News from The Hospital Club's annual awards for the creative industries, plus theartsdesk's Young Reviewer of the Year
Steve O'Rourke
Slicker and slower, the latest version of the football bestseller takes its time to shine

latest in today

Into the Woods, let's dare to state it, is the most perfect music-theatre creation of the last 40 years. Sondheim's sense of timing, equal…
This year is the 70th birthday of the London Film Festival – the grand variety pack of films from the year’s other festivals, with few…
The titular yellow tie isn’t seen much in this lavish biopic, a gift “for a future Prime Minister of Romania” from Sean Bean’s grumpy…
There’s a sinister edge these days to men dressed all in black, marching in step. They used to be quite funny (in this country anyway) and…
Fancy a trip to the seaside, if the fine weather returns? Then make Margate your destination. On my visit the sea was blue and the light…
This third and final instalment of Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland trilogy continues the author’s ingenious mystery-within-a-mystery…
The autumnal return of the K-Music Festival, which started in 2013, is good news for those who like their world music adventurous,…
A young electronic music producer of my acquaintance recently wrinkled their nose at Chase & Status’s last mega hit “BACKBONE,” saying…
The title is a portmanteau word, one that hardly stretches one’s sleuthing capacity to decipher, which proves, unlike much else in a very…
Test Dept are pioneers of hardcore, ear-battering industrial music who first got together in the early 1980s. They may have originally…

Most read

The titular yellow tie isn’t seen much in this lavish biopic, a gift “for a future Prime Minister of Romania” from Sean Bean’s grumpy…
There’s a sinister edge these days to men dressed all in black, marching in step. They used to be quite funny (in this country anyway) and…
Into the Woods, let's dare to state it, is the most perfect music-theatre creation of the last 40 years. Sondheim's sense of timing, equal…
This year is the 70th birthday of the London Film Festival – the grand variety pack of films from the year’s other festivals, with few…
The autumnal return of the K-Music Festival, which started in 2013, is good news for those who like their world music adventurous,…
This third and final instalment of Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland trilogy continues the author’s ingenious mystery-within-a-mystery…
Fancy a trip to the seaside, if the fine weather returns? Then make Margate your destination. On my visit the sea was blue and the light…
This much-acclaimed show about Israeli anti-terrorist operations in the Palestinian territories has always been raw and gritty, but…
Barkouf, the operetta that Offenbach wrote in 1860 immediately after Orpheus in the Underworld, was, you might say, dogged by misfortune at…
A young electronic music producer of my acquaintance recently wrinkled their nose at Chase & Status’s last mega hit “BACKBONE,” saying…