Retro
Restoring a 1983 Star Wars cockpit cab
A three-month teardown log: sourcing vector monitors, re-soldering the yoke, and why the vector glow can never quite be emulated.
Hand-stitched gaming journalism
Where every quest gets the write-up it deserves
From Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, we craft long-form reviews, retro arcade histories and speedrun breakdowns with the care of a master leatherworker — no clickbait, no filler.
Our workbench story
Stitched together since 2014
What began as a single WordPress column about pub arcade cabinets grew into one of the UK's most-read independent gaming journals. Here's how the leather came together.
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2014
The first cabinet review
Founder Marcus wrote a 3,000-word love letter to a battered Digital Eclipse cab in a Digbeth pub. It went unexpectedly viral across the UK retro scene.
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2017
A team of five
We moved into a shared studio on Vyse Street and brought on dedicated hardware, indie and esports writers, publishing three deep-dives a week.
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2020
The Warriors community launched
Our members-only Discord and monthly print zine turned readers into a guild — 12,000 strong and fiercely opinionated about frame rates.
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2024
Ten years, no ads
A decade in, we remain reader-funded and independent — every review still handcrafted, never sponsored, never rushed for a launch-day rush.
From the press
Recent stories off the workbench
A cross-section of what we cover — retro preservation, indie craft, hardware teardowns and the culture around competitive play.
Indie
The two-person studio behind 'Hollowgate'
We spent a week with a Bristol duo shipping their metroidvania — the burnout, the pivots, and the Steam wishlist maths that saved them.
Hardware
Handheld showdown: six months, four devices
Real battery logs, thermal throttling under emulation, and which of this year's handhelds actually survives a commute on the 11A.
Esports
Inside a Birmingham fighting-game local
A field report from a Friday-night bracket above a Digbeth bar — the rivalries, the rollback debates, and the newcomers learning to lab.
Speedrun
How a UK runner shaved 40 seconds off a classic
A frame-by-frame breakdown of a new any% route, annotated with the runner's own notes on the glitch that makes it possible.
Preservation
The volunteers digitising Britain's lost games
Meeting the archivists dumping decaying cassettes and floppies before the magnetism fades for good — one ZX Spectrum tape at a time.
Reader membership
Support the craft, choose your tier
Reader-funded since day one. Every tier keeps our reviews ad-free and independent — compare what's stitched into each.
| What you get | ReaderFree | Warrior£5 / month | Guildmaster£12 / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly long-form reviews | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ad-free, tracker-free reading | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Members-only Discord guild | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monthly print zine posted to you | — | — | ✓ |
| Name in the credits & early drafts | — | — | ✓ |
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Say hello
Pitch a story, or just talk games
Whether you've got a tip, a pitch or a correction, drop us a line. We read everything and reply to most messages within two working days.