Masthead
Sam Martinelli, Editor
Sam has been playing video games since his earliest years and has been writing about them since 2016. He’s a big fan of Nintendo games and complaining about The Last of Us Part II. You either agree wholeheartedly with his opinions or despise them. There is no in between.
A lifelong New Yorker, Sam views gaming as far more than a silly little pastime, and hopes though critical analysis and in-depth reviews to better understand their artistic merit.
Twitter: @sam_martinelli
Amanda Tien, Editor
Amanda Tien likes video games that make her cry, laugh, low-key fall in love, and pet dogs. She joined The Punished Backlog in December 2020 with a salty essay about Cyberpunk 2077. Since then, she has been much happier writing about detective games, indies, and strong femme protagonists like Commander Shepard. Her work can be viewed at www.amandatien.com.
David Silbert, Lead Editor
David is the founder of The Punished Backlog. His favorite game is Final Fantasy XII, and he won’t let anyone tell him otherwise. When he’s not covering entertainment, he’s either listening to Dear Evan Hansen on repeat or watching the Boston Celtics hoist banners in TD Garden.
Follow him on Twitter at @David_Silbert to keep up to date with all things The Punished Backlog.
Kris Catchings, Writer
Kris is a gaming and fitness enthusiast who loves turn-based and action role-playing games. He also likes talking about gameplay mechanics that add new layers to the genre and the need for diversity in video games. He hopes that gaming can be seen as more than interactive mediums and be looked at as a celebration in the entertainment industry. Whenever he is not playing games, he is crafting poems, writing fictional stories, or working out at the gym. New to journalism, he hopes to be a narrative writer for video games or create his own graphic novel series.
Alexia Dahlin, Writer
Alexia grew up on video games like Zoombinis and Freddi Fish. After she played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, she decided that games were her favorite hobby. She recently moved back to her home in Central California after graduating with a Bachelor in Social Sciences and Communications in Belgium. Her interests include gaming subcultures, fantasy world-building, and writing about cozy games!
Anthony Franklin II, Writer
Anthony is a huge Zelda fan, and a bigger Eagles and AEW fan. He’s been gaming for 28 years and has no intention of stopping. Ocarina of Time is his personal GOAT. When he’s not playing games, you can catch him talking about sports and wrestling.
Zack Gulinello, Writer
Zack has been hooked on games ever since his older brother taught him where to find the secret warp whistles in Mario Bros. 3. He has never felt more joy than when Yoshi congratulated him on getting 120 stars in Mario 64 or more sadness than when he played Kingdom Hearts 3 after waiting 14 years for it. Zack mails a letter to Nintendo every day asking them to bring back Chibi Robo and will gladly tell you all about why it’s one of the greatest games of all time. He was hoping that writing for the site would help him get through his backlog, but it actually just made it worse now that he’s hearing about so many more great hidden gems. Oops…
Donovan Harrell, Writer
Donovan is a Devil May Cry and Metroidvania enthusiast who loves fast-paced, single-player action games, especially indie games and action RPGs. He also considers himself to be an advanced scrub with several fighting games. He’s a lifelong gamer and can appreciate games of any genre, as long as he’s having fun. He also really wishes there were more diverse game characters and people in the video game industry. Or at least better hair options for Black people. We play games too, you know.
With a decade of journalism experience under his belt, he joined The Punished Backlog in 2023 after a mild existential crisis pushed him to try and write fun things more often. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @dono_harrell.
Kei Isobe, Writer
Huge video game, comic book, and anime fan. Spends way too much time watching things he doesn’t like. Hates Zack Snyder. Mains Falco.
Allison McDaniel, Writer
Allison has been playing all sorts of games since the late ‘90s. She particularly enjoys life sims, casual games, tactical RPGs, and anything Mario. Her dream jobs are to be a Stardew Valley speed runner and a Mary Tyler Moore historian. As a recent MBA graduate, Allison hopes to spend her extra time tackling her backlog and the never-ending list of new releases.
Clint Morrison, Jr., Writer
Clint is a writer and educator based out of Columbus, OH. You can often find him writing about Middle English poetry, medieval games, or video games. He just finished a PhD in English at the Ohio State University. You can find his academic and public work at clintmorrisonjr.com.
Ben Rashkovich, Writer
Ben is a lawyer by day, gamer by night, and overactive board game Kickstarter backer by dusk/dawn/witching hour. He loves Metroidvanias and Soulslikes, pixelated RPGs, and games about games. He’s also passionate about board games and tabletop role-playing games, and is fascinated in a mega-nerd sort of way by academic theories about play. He’s got a new Twitter account for writing at @BenRashkovich.
Jason Toro, Writer
Jason graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in English and Game Design. For him, video games are not just an art form, but one of the greatest mediums to tell a story. When not perpetuating the game journalist stereotype of being awful at a game and blaming the game for it, Jason likes writing short fiction novels that never get past chapter two or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Gary Wilson, Writer
Gary is a jack-of-all-trades video game enthusiast based in Boston, MA. A semi-professional fighting game player, even less professional Apex Legends player, and even less professional adult, he spends most of his time poking at strange indie gems and reading about the need for more diverse voices in gaming criticism. He invites anyone to recommend anything he’s missed in the gaming world via Twitter or BlueSky, where he can found under the username @grtnpwrfl. When he isn’t spending his time playing games, Gary is an avid New England Patriots fan and frequent hiker.
Past Contributors
Sabrina Anderson
Shane Bond
Mark Bowers
Joe Chivers
Theo Ciccarelli
Alex O. Colón
Colin Doyle
Geron Graham
Anna Hickey
Dwayne Jenkins
Jack Linnehan
PJ Manning
Jayne Martin
Sam Moore
Meghan Nigrelli
Cody Powell
Dylan Roy
Genesis Sandoval
Eric Tate
Luke Vennall
Augustine Villanueva
Bella Yaeger
Sabrina Anderson
Shane Bond
Mark Bowers
Joe Chivers
Theo Ciccarelli
Alex O. Colón
Colin Doyle
Geron Graham
Anna Hickey
Dwayne Jenkins
Jack Linnehan
PJ Manning
Jayne Martin
Sam Moore
Meghan Nigrelli
Cody Powell
Dylan Roy
Genesis Sandoval
Eric Tate
Luke Vennall
Augustine Villanueva
Bella Yaeger