Brandon Craw
LightNews LightNews
banner
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Brandon Craw
@brandoncraw.bsky.social
210 followers 370 following 320 posts
Review bylines on startmenu.co.uk | Also made a podcast about video games and psychology called Mind Controllers 🧠 🎮 | MA Clinical Psychology

linktr.ee/MindControllers
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Brandon Craw @brandoncraw.bsky.social · Dec 12
Yo! We're Mind Controllers, a podcast focusing on doing deep dives of some of our favorite games and video game characters. We also do a weekly general games chat on the side. Come listen and hang out with us! 🔗 to the pod in bio!
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Had an amazing discussion with my dear friend about grief in video games, gaming during depression, potential addiction to gaming, and much more! It was a heavy but necessary conversation, and I hope you enjoy it despite it all

open.spotify.com/episode/0iLy...
Scatterbrained - Sad Human Hour
open.spotify.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
wario64.bsky.social
Silent Hill Townfall coming 2026
February 12, 2026 at 10:49 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
New Kena let's goooo
February 12, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
rcmacleod.bsky.social
This has been a(nother) tough week for layoffs in the games industry, but it's... grimly refreshing to see a studio layoff announcement that uses "I" instead of corporate hand-waving
“As the head of the company, you should cast your judgement on me, and not on” the laid-off developers, van Lierop wrote in the statement. “I’m sorry to have had to let these people go.” Contrast that to, say, the behavior of Washington Post (ex)CEO Will Lewis, who announced he was leaving The Post last Saturday night after hiding from mass layoffs at his company and then being spotted at a Super Bowl party. (The Washington Post is the former employer of Nathan and me.) CEOs rarely take responsibility for the consequences of their choices, reserving that for the employees they lay off and defaulting to ambiguous language or "we" instead of "I" when it comes to who makes the decisions. None of this offsets casting developers into the current games employment market, but in a grim sign of the times, I can at least respect a statement that makes sense and puts the responsibility where it belongs. In an email to Aftermath, van Lierop said, “I know it's easy to lose sight of the human factor when it comes to leadership, and I know there are some sociopathic studio heads out there who aren't phased by these kinds of things, but the people I know who run studios are strongly humanistic people who care a lot about their teams, and take their leadership responsibilities seriously… It should never be easy to make these kinds of decisions. If it ever becomes easy for me to make a decision about someone's livelihood or their family's safety and security, I should not be in this role anymore.”
February 12, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
stopcar.ing
There’s a certain subsection of the internet that is saying ROMEO IS A DEADMAN is Suda51 trying to be political and I’m sorry to say but all Grasshopper Manufacture games are about politics.
February 12, 2026 at 2:03 AM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Had such a great and interesting conversation with Jordan on this episode. Chatted about how he got into Level Design, and eventually found our way to lamenting about the current state of the industry. Come check it out if you've got an hour to spare!
brandoncraw.bsky.social Brandon Craw @brandoncraw.bsky.social · 7d
Had an amazing conversation with Jordan Fanaris, a game developer who has worked on Black Mesa, Hyper Light Drifter and Breaker, and now developing their own game with @nervelabs.bsky.social. Please check this episode out!

open.spotify.com/episode/6QqX...
Scatterbrained - Short That Baby!
open.spotify.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
matpiscatella.bsky.social
Highguard debuted in the top 10 in weekly active users on US Steam, was top 20 on both US PlayStation and Xbox (Circana Player Engagement Tracker week ending 1.31.26) and yet...
shinobi602.bsky.social Shinobi602 @shinobi602.bsky.social · 2d
Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has seemingly laid off most of its staff:

"Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today"

➡️ www.linkedin.com/posts/alex-g...

#Highguard
February 11, 2026 at 11:10 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Wow, this piece was absolutely incredible. Just hearing some of the thoughts and processes of @austinwalker.bsky.social was insightful. Amazing job to @autumn-wright.com for putting this together. As a new writer and aspiring games journalist, I needed this

unwinnable.com/2026/02/11/a...
A Dialogue with Austin Walker - Unwinnable
Austin Walker is a writer, game developer, and a prolific podcast host.
unwinnable.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
gameonysus.bsky.social
I got to review Reanimal for Kotaku and, despite loving LNM I & II, I found Reanimal pretty boring. I think their demphasis of puzzles was a mistake because nothing takes its place. The result is a spooky walking sim with no pulse and way too many "crash bandicoot" style escape sequences.
February 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
kotaku.com
Is Reanimal a fitting horror adventure successor to the beloved Little Nightmares series? Read our review: https://kotaku.com/reanimal-review-little-nightmares-3-horror-adventure-2000667716
Reanimal Review: A Great Ending Can't Save A Boring Adventure
An unremarkable successor to the beloved Little Nightmares series
kotaku.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:06 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Just in time for Valentine's Day
lexluddy.xyz lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) @lexluddy.xyz · 3d
images with threatening auras
February 10, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
startmenu.bsky.social
Vibrant and irreverent, Romeo Is a Dead Man takes the stage with an unmistakable flair for the dramatic.

@taylorjrioux.bsky.social reviews.
Review | Romeo Is a Dead Man - What’s in a Name? — startmenu
Vibrant and irreverent, Romeo Is a Dead Man takes the stage with an unmistakable flair for the dramatic. Taylor Rioux reviews.
www.startmenu.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
stopcar.ing
the world needs @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social's Yakuza Kiwami 3 review
February 9, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
napkinsx.bsky.social
Do you think Bad Bunny will announce Pikmin 5 during the Super Bowl Halftime Show later today?
February 8, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
shineyezehuhh.bsky.social
Big feature about the #RemoveKagawa movement and fans feeling that the bloom has been off the rose for the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games, with this latest controversy being a last straw for many.
For over 20 years, Like A Dragon has been a video game saga of earnest, positive masculinity wrapped in a tacky suit, a story about men who protect the vulnerable even if it means tearing said suits clean from the lapel to brandish the unshakable values inked on their backs. The values of its developer, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, garnered it decades' worth of goodwill. But lately, its fandom feels that RGG Studio has lost its way in the lead up to the release of Yakuza Kiwami 3, especially after the studio’s refusal to dismiss a voice actor who has openly admitted to sexual assault. Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the latest remake in the Yakuza series. Despite being the remake of a game plagued with the sentiment of being “the bad one,” teeming with promise to change fans' minds with a new coat of paint, the vibes around this remake have been rancid, not least because of the widespread calls to remove the voice actor Teruyuki Kagawa.
February 9, 2026 at 5:58 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
I have one friend who is going to be REALLY disappointed with this game 😭. Such a bummer since I just hopped onto the Yakuza train last year
lexluddy.xyz lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) @lexluddy.xyz · 4d
Technically poor and hurried, devoid of the original's charm, and full of filler content and baffling changes, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a 20/100, a 2/10, a one-star game.

It's a seismic miss that left me questioning my love for the series.

My review: www.gamerguides.com/yakuza-kiwam...
February 9, 2026 at 6:34 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
This is insane. In what world do we need to scan our faces to use a messaging app
ramiismail.com Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 4d
It's so wild that we live in a world where the response to "teenagers don't like genocide" is politicians pushing "let's stop teenagers from using the internet" so hard that Discord has opted to shoot its own foot off

www.theverge.com/tech/875309/...
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Age verification for all.
www.theverge.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
ashlikeadragon.bsky.social
yakuza kiwami 3 is an insult to the game rgg has purported to remake, its players, the studio's previous quality output and, bewilderingly, women. oh, and the casting of an admitted sex pest. i'm somewhere between dejection and fury.

my review for vgc:
www.videogameschronicle.com/review/yakuz...
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review: How not to do a remake | VGC
Sega delivers a disappointing remake built on disdain, not reverence, looking to fix a game that wasn’t broken…
www.videogameschronicle.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
lexluddy.xyz
Technically poor and hurried, devoid of the original's charm, and full of filler content and baffling changes, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a 20/100, a 2/10, a one-star game.

It's a seismic miss that left me questioning my love for the series.

My review: www.gamerguides.com/yakuza-kiwam...
February 9, 2026 at 3:06 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Pokémon secretly announcing Day Out and Night Out during the superbowl. What the hell are these events?? They said more info soon but I want to know now 😭
February 9, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
ladork.bsky.social
10,000 Steps too much for the day? Try these series of 5,000-step walks I wrote for LAist. They also cover Greater LA -- from Oxnard to San Bernardino, Burbank to Anaheim. Routes are flat, easy to walk, include lunch options, and are mostly dog-friendly.

laist.com/news/los-ang...
February 8, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
marioprime.bsky.social
the olympics just aired a fuckin video package about a figure skater’s love of magic the gathering
Amber Glenn talks about Magic in front of fantasy art.
February 8, 2026 at 7:37 PM
brandoncraw.bsky.social
Just saw someone on reddit refer to the new "Overwatch" (minus the 2) as an unquel and I think I love it
February 8, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
ramiismail.com
General rule for all game-critical UI and text: if you personally think it's obnoxiously large, make it slighty larger than that.
baroness.bsky.social Bertine van Hövell @baroness.bsky.social · 7d
Kids, if you're making a game and want to run it on a steamdeck or switch

your text size needs to be bigger

no, bigger

c'mon coward, bigger!

what is this, A GAME FOR ANTS? BIGGER
February 8, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Reposted by Brandon Craw
startmenu.bsky.social
Last month saw the first few showcases of the year and no shortage of controversy.

@bigbovy.bsky.social rounded everything up in his weekly Update Patches.

www.startmenu.co.uk/home/patreon...
[PATREON UNLOCK] Update Patch - January 2026 — startmenu
Last month saw the first few showcases of the year and no shortage of controversy. Scott Nowbaveh rounded everything up in his weekly Update Patches.
www.startmenu.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 7:31 PM