Now Boarding · Est. 2019

Departures in Gaming

Reviews, deep-dive guides and lore expeditions across RPGs, roguelikes and indie darlings — filed on a fixed timetable from Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

640+

Titles logged

Tue/Fri

Fixed departures

31k

Monthly readers

0

Sponsored scores

A desk with mechanical keyboard, notebooks and a glowing monitor mid-playthrough

The Flight Crew

A blog run like a timetable, not a hype machine

ArcaneBattleExpedition began in a share-house off Ann Street in the Valley, back when the only way to trust a review was to finish the game first. We still do. Every piece ships on a schedule, credit rolls and all.

Three writers, one editor, no publisher junkets. We buy most of what we cover, disclose anything we don't, and keep our scoring rubric public so you always know what a 7 actually means to us.

Independent

Reader-funded, ad-light

Finished

We roll credits first

On time

Twice-weekly filings

The Flight Plan

How a review taxis to the runway

No hot takes on launch night. Every article passes four checkpoints before it ever boards the schedule.

  1. 01

    Boarding

    We buy or request the game, log the build version, and set a completion target before writing a single word.

  2. 02

    Playthrough

    Minimum 15 hours or full credits, whichever is longer. Notes, clips and bug reports go into a shared logbook.

  3. 03

    Cross-check

    A second writer verifies the score against our public rubric and flags anything that reads like marketing.

  4. 04

    Departure

    Edited, fact-checked and scheduled for the next Tuesday or Friday slot, with disclosures printed up top.

The Logbook

Recent departures by gate

Fantasy RPG landscape
RPG · Review9.1

Ashfall Requiem

80 hours of branching morality that mostly earns its runtime.

Neon dungeon corridor
Roguelike · Guide8.4

Neon Catacomb

A 12-run seed guide to surviving the third-floor gauntlet.

Cosy pixel-art indie scene
Indie · Feature9.4

Tidepool Letters

A six-hour narrative gem built by two people in Meanjin.

Tactical battle grid
RPG · Retro8.8

Gridiron Tactics

Revisiting a 2004 tactics classic that still out-thinks 2024.

From the Cabin

What readers say

"The only outlet I trust to actually finish a JRPG before scoring it. Their Ashfall Requiem breakdown saved me 80 hours on a game I'd have bounced off."

Marcus L., Brisbane

Timetable Notes

Frequently asked

Editorial

How do your scores work?+

We score out of 10 against a published rubric covering design, feel, performance and value. A 7 means genuinely good and worth your time — not a failing grade. The full rubric lives on our About page and hasn't changed since 2021.

Do publishers pay for coverage?+

Never. We buy most games ourselves and clearly label any review code or preview access at the top of the article. No score has ever been sponsored, and it never will be. Reader memberships keep the lights on instead.

Membership

What does the roster get me?+

Membership is AUD $6/month or $60/year. You get early access to reviews the evening before publish, an ad-free reading mode, and a monthly members-only long-read. Cancel anytime from your account page — no lock-in.

Can I pitch a guest article?+

Yes — we run one guest expedition a month, paid at AUD $250 per accepted piece. Send a two-paragraph pitch through the contact form below with the tag "Pitch". We reply to every submission within two weeks, even the ones we pass on.

Flight Desk

Send a message

Pitches, corrections, membership questions or just a good game recommendation — the desk is open.