Unless you are a serious gamer or in the video game industry, you may not be familiar with the fine work of Yahtzee and Zero Punctuation.

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is a shit-talking, no holds barred, comedy writer and video game journalist. Yahtzee started his column in 2007 with The Escapist. Absolutely zero F’s given and it was exactly what the game industry needed. AAA gaming was becoming more mainstream. Millions of dollars spent to make a product in the hopes of making millions more. And the consumer would very happily pay up to $60-$80 to play the game. That is, if the gameplay looked cool and it got good reviews. That’s $60-$80 for a disc! And chances were, you still had to sit and wait for more content to download once you booted the game up for the first time. How frustrating.

Something I always felt made Zero Punctuation’s game reviews unique, although crass and fairly focused on the negative, even if you really liked a game you could relate to the humor. Therefore, it was always highly entertaining. Maybe things you too had thought of while playing a particular game, just only said to your friends. And at the time, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for game reviewers to be paid to write positive reviews.

I’ve had my fair share of favorite video games. Being in the video game industry during this time, I have also played my fair share. These days I am a Nintendo Switch gal, but back then, it was all about my Xbox 360. Here are some of my favorite games (of the time) reviewed by the one, the only, Yahtzee and Zero Punctuation:

After a fantastic 16-year run doing the Zero Punctuation column for The Escapist, Yahtzee ended up leaving in 2023. This came as his colleague and former editor-in-chief of The Escapist, Nick Calandra, had been unfairly relieved of his duties. Therefore, Yahtzee and a few others walked out too. For the right reasons but nonetheless, sad to know he’s no longer producing Zero Punctuation. You can however find his complete Zero Punctuation series on YouTube.

The good news is, he and some others from The Escapist, including Calandra, started their own video game and entertainment website, Second Wind. And Yahtzee? He’s back to making more content with his new feature, Fully Ramblomatic. For some quality entertainment and video-game relatable laughs, be sure to check ’em both out!