Melbourne Game Blog · Est. 2019

Games, folded open to their core.

We dissect RPGs, roguelikes, and indie gems with honest scores, spoiler-safe guides, and no publisher fluff — written from a Collingwood studio flat that smells of cold coffee.

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640+ reviews 1.2M readers/yr Weekly deep dives
Neon-lit gaming setup with controller and monitor

How we review

Every verdict earns its score.

No pre-launch hot takes. Each title runs the full gauntlet before a number goes live.

  1. 1

    Full playthrough

    We finish the campaign — minimum 25 logged hours — before writing a single line. Backlog jockeys need not apply.

  2. 2

    Systems teardown

    Combat, economy, pacing and accessibility get scored separately so a gorgeous world can't hide a broken loop.

  3. 3

    Second pair of eyes

    A second editor replays the contested sections so verdicts survive taste, hardware, and difficulty differences.

  4. 4

    Publish & patch-watch

    Scores get revisited after major patches — a day-one mess that becomes great gets its update, and its credit.

What we cover

Coverage, folded into columns.

RPG world map close-up

Deep-dive reviews

3,000-word verdicts on RPGs and open-world epics. Free to read, ad-light, spoiler-gated. New review every Tuesday, 9am AEST.

Free · weekly

Boss & puzzle guides

Step-by-step, screenshot-heavy walkthroughs for the fights that stall you. Updated within 48h of release.

Free

Frontier Club

Members-only monthly essays, early review drafts, and a private Discord voice night. Cancel anytime.

AU$8 / month

Indie spotlight

Fortnightly features on Australian and Pacific studios you haven't heard of yet — pitch us at the contact form.

Free · fortnightly

The Frostcast

Our weekly 45-minute podcast recorded live from Collingwood every Thursday, 7pm — hot patches, cold takes, and listener mailbag.

Free · Thursdays

Reader mail

What the frontier folk say.

"Your Aurora's Edge re-review saved me AU$99 — I waited for patch 2.0 exactly like you said and it's now my game of the year."

— Marcus T., Fitzroy VIC · March 2025

Good to know

Questions, grouped.

Reviews & scores

How is your score out of 10 decided?

We rate five pillars — combat, world, pacing, value and accessibility — then weight them by genre. A racing game leans on feel and content; an RPG leans on writing and systems. The final number is discussed by two editors, never averaged blindly.

Do you take money from publishers?

Never for coverage. We accept review copies but pay for the games we can't get codes for, funded by Frontier Club members. Any sponsored post is labelled at the top and is always a separate article from a scored review.

Membership & pitching

What do I get in Frontier Club?

For AU$8 a month you get a long-form essay each month, early access to review drafts, an ad-free site, and Thursday-night Discord voice sessions. It's month-to-month with no lock-in, and you can pause during a quiet release season.

I'm a small studio — can I pitch a game?

Absolutely, especially Australian and Pacific developers. Use the contact form below with a build link and a one-paragraph hook. We reply to every pitch within two weeks, even if it's a no — silence isn't our style.

Say hello

Pitch, praise, or newsletter.

Drop us a line and we'll add you to the weekly deep-dive digest. Studios pitching a game, tell us the platform and release window.