Best games critique/analysis channels on Youtube

[Robiin]

I've been entranced lately by listening to/watching long-form critique on Youtube. I feel like this has become an enormous thing, a lot of people are doing it - some great, some good, some bad.

The thing is, I want more. And also shout out some of my favorites, to give them more exposure. Many of them have gotten huge, but there must be ones I have yet to find. As someone interested in game design these videos do much more for me than reviews released beside the game ever will.

Some of my favorites:
Joseph Anderson - Youtube channel - Twitch channel - Review of Prey
Truly an intelligent man, long critiques with thorough discussion of game design. Seemingly spends an absurd amount of time with the game he chooses to discuss, which makes his uploads a bit scarce, but always of the highest quality.

Mark Brown, Game Maker's Tool Kit - Youtube channel - What Mirror's Edge Catalyst Should Have Learned From Burnout Paradise
Relatively short and to the point videos. Often about mechanics rather than specific games. Great video editing with relevant clips for everything he discusses. Has a great series on Zelda dungeons called "Boss Keys" which are highly recommended.

Others I recommend:
KingK - Youtube channel - Metroid Prime 3: The Price of Accessibility
The Geek Critique - Youtube channel - Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze
Raycevick - Youtube channel - Mass Effect, 10 Years Later

Come on ResetEra, any more I should look into? Do you enjoy these kind of game design discussions as much as me?

 

[Leticinios]

I wrote I post on my blog about my favorite ones. The post is in portuguese, but all the channels are english speakers:

> Mark Brown, Game Maker's Tool Kit; also.
> Game Score Fanfare;
> PushingUpRoses;
> NoClip;
> Extra Credits;
> The Game Theorists;
> Turbo Button;


And I also have a game-related youtube channel but I don't do reviews, analysis or things like that, but maybe some day.

 

[11am]

George Wiedman aka Superbunnyhop has made some great story analysis and does a great jon reasearching industry trends when he isn't "researching" pachinko parlours

 

[ActWan]

Matthewmatosis - If lengthy analyses and reviews are your thing, this is your guy.
Super Bunnyhop - Very insightful reviews and critiques plus really interesting videos in general.

Adding some more:
[game array]
TheGamingBritShow
Errant Signal
Noah Caldwell-Gervais
Writing on Games

 

[Evil_P]

I've recently discovered Downward Thrust. Very insightful and thoughtful opinion pieces and quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. Highly recommend!

 

[Kureransu]

I have to give a shout-out to Arlo
https://www.youtube.com/user/ArloStuff
Your is one very well spoken Muppet, with very well thought it opinions on things gaming

 

[Blackie]

I was going to come in and suggest stuff but everyone beat me to all of my favorites! Joseph Anderson kind of came out of nowhere in the last year and got really big, probably the one I currently listen to most. Even if I don't always agree with his opinions I like the way he breaks everything down analytically.

 

[Blade Wolf]

Matthewmatosis, one of the best video game analysis channel on YouTube.

(Seems like others have already mentioned him, good job guys)

 

[Dernhelm]

Chalk another follower of Mark Brown and SuperBunnyHop. Also, I dunno how much more insightful he is compared to some others that may be posted here, but 'A German Spy' and, particulalry, his LPs this year have always been pretty enlightening to me.

 

[KorrZ]

For long form my top three are:

Joseph Anderson
Noah Caldwell-Gervais
Matthewmatosis

Just excellent work all around. I just wish they posted more often but I understand the length of video they make takes an enormous amount of time.

 

[shimon]

Could listen to Joseph Anderson all day long :) Love his stuff.

 

[Mistle]

Mark Brown and Geek Critique are good.

I'll have to try out Joseph Anderson, somehow never seen him

Edit: oh yeah mathewmatosis is another good one.

 

[edwMr]

Dark Pixel Gaming has some nice stuff, especially the Retrospective Review series.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Give SolePorpoise a shot. He can go in a lot of depth and offer some really good insights in his videos. This is his latest one:



I'm also a fan of his Bloodborne video. I actually don't quite agree with everything, but even when I was disagreeing, I felt like his take was offering me a valuable perspective that was worth considering instead of just dismissing. The bit on Communion is probably my favorite in the whole video:

 

[TiG]

GDC's videos!

 

[AerialAir]

I'm writing a dissertation on videogame experiences, so I spent a lot of my summer gathering what I thought were the best youtube channels in videogame analysis, here's my list (no names, sorry):
https://www.youtube.com/user/XboxAhoy
https://www.youtube.com/user/Campster
https://www.youtube.com/user/broadcaststsatic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIr5cIzrkBIOwMCxJVJOx7Q
https://www.youtube.com/user/McBacon1337
https://www.youtube.com/user/mylifeingaming
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC90j-2-QYPklqaBd88emuxw
https://www.youtube.com/user/tthompso
https://www.youtube.com/user/HyperBitHero
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDclUMGFl0pfCQlqHXVhfvA
https://www.youtube.com/user/snomangaming
https://www.youtube.com/user/ClassicGameJunkie
https://www.youtube.com/user/mrskimps
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0JB7TSe49lg56u6qH8y_MQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1JTQBa5QxZCpXrFSkMxmPw

 

[JusDoIt]

Core-A Gaming. Fighting game focused, but very thoughtful analysis.

 

[Acorn]

Joseph Anderson and Noah Caldwell-Gervais. I might not always agree with them but I can always understand where they are coming from, they are never flippant or reactionary.

 

[Mafro]

Big fan of Arlo and matthewmatosis.

 

[Ballpoint Ren]

Superbunnyhop is the first thing that comes to mind. His video on 100%-ing MGSV is what sold me.

 

[Inco]

hbomberguy doesn't usually do gaming focused videos, but the ones he has done are fantastic. He's gone in-depth into games like Fallout 3 (and why it sucks), Darkest Dungeon, Dark Souls II, LISA, and Bloodborne. They're mostly fairly longform, though, but if you've got an hour and a half to spend on some guy talking about video games, he's pretty good.

 

[johnnydork]

Lorerunner formerly Archengeia is one of my low key faves. Does analysis and slow playthroughs. Mainly rpgs

 

[Eszik]

Innuendo Studios : the channel doesn't only focus on games but it has some great pieces about Life is Strange, Bastion or adventure games
snomaN : Great design videos and reviews

Also, for all you French-speakers out there :p
Game Next Door
Game Spectrum

 

[Alexhex]

Yeah, there's a serious lack of quality super in-depth content on Youtube, too much of a focus on replicating the humor, delivery, and non-sequitur nature of the Jontron/PBG era of videos for some reason. All the stuff posted here is good though and has pretty much always been the extent of what I could find haha.

Honestly at the point where a 5-10 minute video reviews for games aren't really enough to get all point across, at least for me. Gimmie those deep dives.

 

[CarlosX360]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOD-tcFzMSiaNkSUB_KVjQ (Some videos have swearing, so beware.)
https://www.youtube.com/user/AlphaOmegaSin (He swears alot, but in a way that doesn't "attack" the user, more like "EA could've just fuck off." Like the video I embed...)



If you're a SJW type of person, do not watch any one of Alpha's videos. Especially the cuphead one.

 

[oni-link]

You all beat me to the punch with the channels I'd recommend but love these threads, will check anyone I've not heard of out

 

[mrmickfran]

Matthewmatosis is great.

Especially love it when he tears through a game he doesn't like (Dark Souls 2, Skyward Sword)

 

[marianitten]

hbomberguy doesn't usually do gaming focused videos, but the ones he has done are fantastic. He's gone in-depth into games like Fallout 3 (and why it sucks), Darkest Dungeon, Dark Souls II, LISA, and Bloodborne. They're mostly fairly longform, though, but if you've got an hour and a half to spend on some guy talking about video games, he's pretty good.

Click to shrink...

I find hbomberguy a rare case. He made great reviews... buy his response to the Mathewmattosis / Dark Souls 2 review is just plain awful.

 

[Deleted member 9237]

It's largely inactive now, but:
MrBtongue makes / made fantastic videos.

Personally I don't like hbomberguy at all. His points aren't coherent, and often contradict each other, and the videos are way, way longer than they need to be.

 

[Infinite Ukemi]

Does Mother's Basement belong up in here? Or has he lost all his street cred because of his tendency to play devils advocate and argue for garbage?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBs2Y3i14e1NWQxOGliatmg/featured

Edit: Woops, video games. My bad.

He mostly reviews anime, but his video on the Trails series is pretty good. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Dr. Caroll]

I feel Noah Caldwell-Gervais is one of the best ones. I disagree with a fair number of his arguments, but he's a very reasonable man. He makes videos on topics other developers seemingly aren't interested in. His videos are calm, reasoned, and really worth watching.

 

[aSqueakyLime]

Joseph Anderson as others have said is wonderful. He's great at giving each game the time it deserves, and even when I disagree I can always see where he's coming from. Though of course he's not invincible from criticism (the fact that he's not playing the OG NieR before reviewing NieR Atomato is aggravating -_-).

hbomberguy is also someone who I really enjoy, though I find myself disagreeing with him more than other critics. His Bloodborne video is great, however.

Lastly, Mark Brown, for which you basically said all my thoughts :p

 

[Abe Lincoln’s Ghost]

Tagged for later.

 

[Monogatari]

Two of my favourites have already been mentioned, but I'll reiterate.

SuperBunnyHop and MatthewMatosis.

One that has a very low following and not many videos, but who has made great analysis videos on games that haven't been covered as much elsewhere, is SinglePlayerGame (great name). His videos on SMT3 and Time Crisis are favourites of mine.

Another is 16 bit gems. ClanOfTheGreyWolf. Great video on the history of JRPGs and he has sold me on a lot of SNES era JRPGs.

 

[Shrikey]

Came in to post Mark Brown and Joseph Anderson, but guess they're kinda in a league of their own.

Definitely want to give a second shoutout for Errant Signal. His series on 0451/immersive sims is pretty amazing.

I'm going to wade through as many of these as I can, but I've got a follow-up request. Are any of these channels run by a woman? I teach English as a second language, and I'm constantly trying to find engaging (and suitably advanced) video and audio content for my students. I've already added Anderson and Mark Brown to my list a while back, but my list of good youtube-channels tends to be kinda skewed.

 

[Velka]

Lots of great channels were already mentioned so I'll add Clemps, his Nier analysis is great for newcomers to the series

 

[gcwy]

SuperBunnyHop and Mark Brown. I only follow these because they provide genuine critique of games. The latter does a better job at trying to keep the subjective stuff out of it, but I still like SBH.