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Punished Series
In The Punished Podcast episode 6, we celebrate 28 years of Pokémon! We discuss the formula’s greatest innovations, stagnations, and more.
In The Punished Podcast Episode 5, we share our most anticipated games of 2024, restart our Fantasy Gaming league, and talk some Zelda!
Latest Articles
Top Articles
Punished Series
In The Punished Podcast episode 6, we celebrate 28 years of Pokémon! We discuss the formula’s greatest innovations, stagnations, and more.
In The Punished Podcast Episode 5, we share our most anticipated games of 2024, restart our Fantasy Gaming league, and talk some Zelda!
While I would love to play as Ciri in The Witcher 4, I don’t actually want to be able to. Here’s who should be the protagonist instead.
Get to know the diverse group of video game writers who serve as the volunteer editorial board of The Punished Backlog.
In our Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus review, read about the game’s gorgeous art, great aerial combat, and troubled publishing at Humble Games.
In our Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure review, learn whether this genre-bending indie lives up to the promise of its premise.
What place does Call of Duty hold in my life after 15 years away from the franchise? The answer is a bit complicated.
In our Tchia review for Nintendo Switch, learn whether this Zelda-inspired open-world adventure is a blast or a bore.
Reviews
View AllIn our Nine Sols review, learn whether this tough-as-nails Metroidvania offers enough thrills to overcome its sluggish pacing.
In our Indika review, learn whether this genre-bending horror game is worth the price tag, despite tonal shifts and a short runtime.
In our Paper Trail review, learn whether these zen vibes and origami-inspired puzzles are worthy of your time.
In our El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster review, learn whether this gorgeous yet imperfect wonder is worth a look.
Top Articles
The Punished Podcast
View AllIn The Punished Podcast Episode 10, we discuss our most anticipated games of fall 2024! We also do our Fantasy Gaming waiver wire pick-ups.
What makes DLC worth it? How does the expectation of DLC change our experience? We discuss all things DLC, including the best DLC out there.
For The Punished Podcast Episode 8, we share our favorite games and biggest disappointments of 2024 thus far.
If you loved playing a hundred hours of BG3, hopefully you’ll enjoy hundreds of minutes of our spoilercast discussion.
In The Punished Podcast episode 6, we celebrate 28 years of Pokémon! We discuss the formula’s greatest innovations, stagnations, and more.
In The Punished Podcast Episode 5, we share our most anticipated games of 2024, restart our Fantasy Gaming league, and talk some Zelda!
Punished Notes
View AllIn this edition of Punished Notes, Sam gets into his thoughts on the reveal of Gears of War: E-Day, his favorite part of Hellblade II, and other thoughts.
In this Punished Notes, Sam dives into Balatro, a replay of Fallout: New Vegas, and more.
In this edition of Punished Notes, Sam gets into his experience with Golden Sun’s storytelling, the best narrative mechanic of Baldur’s Gate 3, and other thoughts.
Bethesda’s Starfield may be janky, but I’m having a great time. Its mundane moments make the unordinary ones all the more compelling.
It’s a special edition of Punished Notes, as we celebrate Volume 30! To honor the occasion, here are 30 notes for your reading pleasure.
Every time I turn on TOTK, a million thoughts pop into my head that I could potentially write about. Honestly, I’d rather just keep playing.
Punished Chat
View AllFive avid Stardew Valley players discuss why Stardew Valley is so good, the future of the game, its Harvest Moon roots, and more.
Long lost robot girlfriends, zombies, and fascism, oh my! We get together to discuss this indie horror survival game.
How does Tears of the Kingdom compare to rest of the series? Where should Zelda go next? Get our early Tears of the Kingdom impressions here.
Want a fun way to celebrate, laugh, and/or cry about your favorite games of 2022? Introducing The Punished Backlog’s first ever prop awards.
Favorite characters, problematic approaches to Manuela, figuring out what that whole goddess thing was about… we discuss it all.
We review the first 12 months of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, including best games, console features, and most anticipated 2022 games.
Punished Favorites
View AllAs the 25th anniversary of the PS2 approaches, help us celebrate by checking out our list of the 19 best PlayStation 2 games ever.
Whether a game succeeds or disappoints, there’s no denying the power of a great teaser. These are our most hyped video games ever.
For this edition of Punished Favorites, we’ve decided to highlight our favorite SNES games of all time and why their legacies live on.
For this edition of Punished Favorites, we’ve decided to highlight some polarizing entries in beloved franchises and why we still love them, warts and all.
Five female games writers reflect on the female video game characters, from both indies and AAA games, that inspire them.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we wrote about 20 of our favorite games made by womxn.