I Finished A Video Game

Surprise! A new video is releasing tomorrow!

Hey everyone - I've got a surprise for you all

Dishonored - A Lengthy Retrospective is coming out TOMORROW at 6PM BST

Now, you might be thinking "doesn't this thumbnail look slightly different?" and to that I would say "How observant you are!"

Essentially, I came to the realisation that covering the history of Arkane Studios, Dishonored 1, the DLC, Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider in a single video was going to lead to yet another 6+ hour project and that it would not ...

THE LICENSED GAMES THAT SHOULD NOT BE - PATREON EXCLUSIVE VIDEO 01

As promised and only one day late - I present to the faithful of Patreon...

The Licensed Games That Should Not Be

After spending the last four months working on a huge licenced game video, I wanted to say goodbye to this chapter of IFAVG with a video exploring some of the strange stories behind some of the most interesting licensed games.

It's a 45 minute investigation of five games - some excellent, some terrible, some confusing but a...

The Past, Present and Future of the Channel

So last night I did a fairly large stream over on the channel where I wanted to talk about my year and what the future of IFAVG looks like.

I've included the link here for anyone that missed out but I'll provide a few bullet points for those that would rather cut to the chase...

• My cancer situation this year has been really challenging and I've had a lot of complications

• Thankfully I'm now cancer free and in monitoring rather than treatment

  ...
  2024-10-18 17:07:52 +0000 UTC View Post

The X Men Retrospective is LIVE!

After what might have been the worst four months of my life - the fruits of my labour are finally out there.

The X Men Retrospective is LIVE over on YouTube

It really is quite a crazy video and I'm not sure it would have turned out like this had I not spent so long recovering from various surgeries - but this is what tumbled out of my brain so it's what I'm putting out there!

It of course touches on virtually every corner of the franchise from movies to cartoons to comics - ...

A Large Update (X-Men + Cancer)

It's been far too long since I last provided a meaningful update so here it is.

I'll try my best not to make it too depressing as I'm very conscious that this year the bad news coming out of I Finished A Video Game has far outweighed the good.

If you remember my last post you'll know that I had surgery on August 20th to remove cancer from three locations and while it's been broadly successful - the recovery has been about as complicated as physically possible.

I won't bore y...

The Next Retrospective - X MEN

So it's been awhile since my last update. I figured you were all due a bit of good news and something to look forward to!

I've been working hard on the next retrospective and I'm pleased to reveal that I am about 70% of the way through a very long video on the history of the X Men video games.

As expected - it's sprawled into a massive exploration of the series' wider success and failures - using the games as a framework to talk about so many strange X Men related topics.

We...

A Quick Health Update

Hello everyone.

For the first time in a fair few months - I've got some good news to share

Last week I got a call from my consultant letting me know the result of the tests I've been going though and the outcome was as good as we could have ever wished for.

There are no signs of cancer outside of the two locations scheduled for surgery and in one of those locations, the situation is now being treated as preventative rather than curative.

Essentially - Stage four cance...

The Onimusha Retrospective is LIVE!

It's probably been the toughest project I've ever worked on but the Onimusha video is finally live!

It's ended up being ludicrously detailed and thanks to a lack of focus driven by my treatment, I've indulged every single tangent I wanted to pursue - creating a frankly absurd video about a very niche and very strange series.

So enjoy! I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the fruits of my labour.

(There is also a special message at the end of the video specifically for ...

An Unfortunate Update

So unfortunately I've got a bit of bad news.

It looks like rather than requiring just one surgery I'm going to need two and have also been referred for a full body CT scan in order to see if there is cancer present in other areas of my body.

Obviously, a negative result would be fantastic but there is also a possibility I'll need more surgery/immunotherapy.

The reality is that I'm struggling to deal with all of this. It's all been extremely sudden and both me and Steph feel ...

A Special Celebration Stream (and channel update)

Hey Everyone

So I've got a few things to update you about.

Firstly I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has stuck with the Patreon through the start of this year. It's made a huge difference to my mental health to know I've got some reliable income while dealing with my cancer. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Secondly, I'm getting very close to finishing the Onimusha Retrospective. It's taken almost two months longer than I'd originally intende...

Some rather bad news

So unfortunately I've had a spot of bad news this week.

Next Monday I need to go in for surgery to remove a potential melanoma from my leg.

Luckily it's early enough that the Doctors aren't concerned about any spread or potential further treatment beyond the op but it's still made for a rather unpleasant experience. Sadly the state of healthcare in my country is really pretty dire at the moment so the poor communication / lack of speed has created an enormous amount of stress for ...

The Lost Crown Review is LIVE!

So two years ago I put together a very long video about the Prince of Persia series.

Amazingly this ended up really taking off and catapulting me towards doing YouTube as a full time endeavour - something I could have never foreseen when I was trying to work out how to record and edit.

Well fast-forward to 2024 and miraculously - another game has come out.

So hopefully you'll indulge me this little side project - a lengthy review of Prince of Persia The Lost Crown.

Doe...

A BIG Channel Update! (Three new videos)

So hello my Patreon residing friends. It's been awhile since I last provided a proper update so here is a monster helping of NEWS...

I've been hard at work since the release of the Metroid Retrospective back in December and over the next few weeks I have quite a bit of CONTENT to dole out to you

-----

The first is a big surprise. 

I've been secretly working on a Lengthy Review of Prince of Persia The Lost Crown which is just about finished and wil...

Ranking Every Game I Reviewed in 2023 - A Patreon Only Video!

To cap off what was an extremely exciting year - I thought it would be nice to surprise all my Patrons with an exclusive video made just for you!

I'd been toying with the idea of creating something like this for the main channel but I figured it might be nicer to turn it into a Patreon reward as a thank you for all the incredible support.

So here is 51 minutes of me ranking every single game I reviewed into a completely bias list. In my view - it's a little mini retrospective of &...

BONUS DAMAGE PODCAST - EP1 - Vagrant Story (with Sean Seanson and Majuular!)

So this is a little overdue but here is the first in what will hopefully be a long series - Bonus Damage!

The idea is that this is a little loose podcast where I can invite various interesting people on to chatter away with and offer a different perspective to the topics we cover in the videos!

This first one is a discussion about Vagrant Story with two of the best creators on the platform - Sean Seanson and Majuular (who I highly recommend checking out if you're not familiar with...

The Metroid Retrospective is LIVE!

You may have already seen over on YouTube but the Metroid Retrospective is finally live!

Finally, I am free to move on with my life and take on some projects that don't involve curling up into a ball (both in game and as a result of the stress)

I'm sure it's going to make for a great retrospective review later next year because the process behind this video was torturous to say the least!

Still - I think it's made for a really interesting journey through the dark side of Nin...

Metroid - A Lengthy Retrospective (PREVIEW)

So for the first time the editing process has allowed me to upload a preview of the next video!

It should be coming out on Sunday 3rd December at 6pm GMT so hopefully this gets you excited for the full release!

I'll likely take a week or so off afterwards as it's been a very challenging production but once I'm recharged - I'll be back with a stream over on YouTube where I'll announce the next video and reveal a few upcoming goodies for you all.

Mucho love,

Matt

<...

Vagrant Story is LIVE!

I've just posted the latest retrospective - Vagrant Story - A Lengthy Retrospective

It's a real labour of love exploring the fate of a developer and game that I've appreciated for a very long time. Hopefully it proved to be an interesting exploration as it's party retrospective and part mystery story - something a little different!

Once again a massive thanks for the support on here which means I don't have to take a sponsor every single video - enjoy your uninterrupted documentar...

I Finished A Video Game hits 100,000 subscribers!

So I wouldn't usually bother my dear patrons with numbers updates (I usually save that for the discord if you're interested) but this one is a rather special milestone

Last night IFAVG hit 100k subscribers and reached the promised land of six digits!

Of course it's completely arbitrary and the channel is no different at 100k to 99k (or really even 50k or 10k for that matter) but it's hard not to look at it and feel proud of the journey. In December 2021 I was celebrating hitting 5...

The Next Retrospective! - VAGRANT STORY

So on tonight's stream I revealed the next lengthy retrospective which will be a single game deep dive into the twisted world of Vagrant Story.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it - it's a legendary PS1 RPG by Squaresoft that essentially tries to break every design rule from the 90s and in the process, ends up being remarkably original and inventive. It's full of flaws and creative ideas all wrapped around a tense and engaging story which should all make for a very entertaining...

Indiana Jones is LIVE!

So over on YouTube I've just posted the latest Lengthy Retrospective - a complete history and exploration of the Indiana Jones video game series.

It covers everything from the creation of the movies to the changing licensed game landscape that informed the games and manages to talk about over 30 different titles in the process.

It took a big push to get this one finished in good time so hopefully it pays off and you all enjoy it!

Happy watching!

The Next Retrospective Appears!

So in case you missed the announcement on last weeks stream - I thought I'd post a little reminder here as well.

The next video (due out near the end of June) is INDIANA JONES - A LENGTHY RETROSPECTIVE

Obviously given the release of the final Indiana Jones movie it's a little topical but I also think this is a franchise that's been criminally underrated over the decades and has some very interesting instalments.

The story will take us all over the world and has it's roots in...

The Parasite Eve Aftermath

So it's been almost a week since Parasite Eve released and all I can say is that the response has well and truly blown me away.

Almost a quarter of a million views in 7 days is frankly dreamland numbers, especially considering how much of a challenge this video was to make. I'd expected this to maybe crawl up to 100k over a month or so but clearly I'm not the best judge of everyone's appetite for lengthy video game retrospectives!

Once again thank you everyone for taking the time ...

A Parasite Eve Retrospective Preview

As I'm sure you're all aware, the next Lengthy Retrospective is coming out this Sunday so in advance of that exciting moment - I wanted to share the introduction with you!

Much like all my other videos, we're going to explore the history of the studio and developers that created the franchise along with examining why it's memorable and what exactly happened to it.

Also in a first - there is a section where I review a book and another where I review a movie, neither of which I've e...

A Discord Appears!

I've decided to set up a Discord for the channel as a way to keep better in touch and have some fun community things without having to spam everyone via Patreon or YouTube!

If you're supporting the channel on here you're automatically enrolled as a Patreon which means you get access to a special Patron only chat room (for discussion about videos and smaller updates) and a voting system for upcoming games on the stream.

Hopefully it can turn into something cool! I've always put off...

Panzer Dragoon - A Long Overdue Update

So about that next video...

Back in December, just after I published the Castlevania retrospective, I decided that it was a perfect time to take on a project I'd wanted to do for a long time. Luckily it was only a handful of games so it wouldn't take long and then I could focus on doing something completely fresh in the new year.

As you're all well aware - it didn't quite work out like that.

While I did my research and started writing, the video began to grow and ...

Next Stream Game - Also a look ahead to 2023

Merry New Year everyone! 

Hope you're all suitably fed and watered after Christmas and the turning of the year! My waist is probably a good few inches broader thanks to the amount of cheese, chocolate and festive meat I've eaten but that's the whole point really isn't it?

Just wanted to put out a quick poll to see which game we'd like to see over the next few streams over on Twitch. I've been dying to play each of these so it'll be a lot of fun to see which we end up doing! 2023-01-01 20:01:28 +0000 UTC View Post

2022 - A Round Up and Tier List

So here at the end of a pretty crazy year, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take stock of how everything has played out and think back to where I was at the start of the year.

As of 1st January 2022 I had just released the Prince of Persia retrospective and was sitting at about 500 Subs which I thought was a pretty big deal at the time (I literally had a glass of wine to celebrate on...

A Brand New Channel Banner

Just wanted to quickly share with you this incredible piece of art that's been done by  the unfairly talented Denis Belialov. It's going to be sitting proudly at the top of YouTube, Twitch and Patreon as the new channel banner and I couldn't be happier with it.

The idea is that it's sort of a riff on an early 90s Silver Surfer comic and I'm absolutely stoked with how it's turned out! I think it'll add a real sense of legitimacy to that first glance at the channel page (which is som...

A Big Post Castlevania Update

So the video is out and well, it's had quite the reception so far...

It's currently far and away my most successful video and the fact that it's bearing down on 100k views in less than a week is frankly mind-blowing. To put that into context - it took my Prince of Persia video 97 days and Jade Empire almost 200!

2022-12-07 22:09:08 +0000 UTC View Post