Flagship · Free
The Full Playthrough Review
Our signature long-read — 3,000 words, scored out of 10, built only after we roll credits. New AAA and indie verdicts published every Friday.
Boarding Pass · No. 0447
GATE · MEL
DEST · PIXELS
Departures · Game Blog · Melbourne
Field notes from the edge of every game world.
We chase the stories behind the screen — boss-fight autopsies, indie discoveries, and honest reviews written by people who actually finish the game. Published weekly from Flinders Lane.
312 reviews filed
48k weekly readers
Est. 2016
Itinerary
How a piece leaves the gate
Every article passes four checkpoints before it lands in your feed. No rushed hot-takes, no press-release copy-paste.
01
Board & play
We play to credits — 40+ hours minimum for RPGs — logging bugs, difficulty spikes, and the moments that actually stick.
02
Draft & argue
The writer drafts, then two editors push back hard on the score. If a claim can't survive the room, it doesn't survive the page.
03
Capture & cut
Our capture desk grabs 4K footage and clean stills so every screenshot is ours — no marketing bullshots, no stock renders.
04
Publish & reply
Pieces go live Tuesday and Friday at 9am AEST, and the writer stays in the comments for 48 hours to defend the verdict.
The desk
What we file every week
Six standing columns keep the blog moving. Some are free-to-read, others sit behind our Empire membership — AUD pricing below.
Boss-Fight Autopsies
Frame-by-frame breakdowns of the hardest encounters, with tells, timings, and gear checks. Updated the week a game ships.
Indie Discovery Dispatch
A curated Monday newsletter of five under-the-radar releases we actually played, with buy-or-wishlist calls for each.
Melbourne Studio Files
Long-form interviews with local devs from Southbank to Fitzroy on how Australian games actually get made.
The Backlog Verdict
Should you still buy that three-year-old game today? Re-reviews accounting for patches, DLC, and current player counts.
Shadow Empire Radio
A 45-minute weekly audio show recorded Thursday nights — release chatter, hot debates, and one listener question.
Capture desk
Marketing shot vs. what we found
Drag the divider on each stub to compare the publisher's bullshot with our own uncompressed capture from a retail build.
Bullshot
Bullshot
Passenger log
What readers say
"The only review site where I trust the score. They warned me off a game I'd pre-ordered and saved me eighty bucks — then nailed exactly why the sequel was better."
Marcus T. · Carlton, VIC · Mar 2025
"Their boss-fight autopsies got me through the final act I'd been stuck on for two weeks. Clear, no padding, and actually accurate to the retail patch."
Priya S. · Sydney, NSW · Jan 2025
"The Indie Discovery Dispatch is worth the nine dollars alone. I've found four of my favourite games of the year from a newsletter that lands before I've had coffee."
Dylan R. · Fitzroy, VIC · Feb 2025
"As a small local dev, their Studio Files interview was the fairest coverage we've ever had. They played the whole build before we even spoke. Rare these days."
Amara O. · Brunswick, VIC · Dec 2024
Help desk
Frequently asked
Editorial
How do you score games? +
We use a straight 1–10 scale with no half-points, decided by the writer and two editors after a full playthrough. A 7 is genuinely good, not a disappointment, and we publish a short "who it's for" note beside every number so the score never stands alone.
Do publishers pay for coverage? +
Never. We buy most games ourselves and clearly label any review copy or preview event as such. Membership fees and a handful of vetted, non-endorsement banner ads keep the lights on, so no publisher has ever influenced a score.
Membership
What does Empire membership include? +
For AUD 9 a month you get the Indie Discovery Dispatch, The Backlog Verdict, an ad-free site, and early access to reviews 24 hours before they go public. You can cancel anytime from your account page and keep access until the billing period ends.
Can I pitch an article? +
Yes — we run two freelance slots a month and pay AUD 350 per accepted feature. Email a two-paragraph pitch with a link to past work and we reply to every submission within a week, whether it's a yes or a no.
Check in
Send us a transmission
Tips, corrections, pitches, or membership questions — the desk reads everything and replies within one business day.
Phone
+61 3 9654 6128Address
118 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Desk hours
Mon–Fri · 9:00–18:00 AEST