AUSTIN, Texas — Online game reviewer Tyler Wenks is changing the face of the industry with his new school of objective critical theory, where he doesn’t let his own opinions interfere with his evaluation of a game.
Wenks operates a YouTube channel, GamerThink1990, that’s dedicated to video game news, reactions, and reviews, as recorded from Wenks’ merch-strewn mancave in Texas. While Wenks has updated the channel regularly since 2014, his channel only started building an audience once he unveiled his Objective Game Reviews series in early 2024.
The goal of Objective Game Reviews, according to Wenks, is to remove any trace of bias from the report.
“It’s pure analysis,” Wenks said in an interview with Dexerto. “I analyze every game I review according to 72 different factors, assign each one a number, and plug that number into my homemade algorithm. That boils all traces of me out of the final product and leaves only pure data: the perfect critical review. Then I just read through the data sheet with no emotion whatsoever. After all, the last thing anyone should want out of an opinion piece is my opinion.”
“Hades II is now out in Early Access on Steam,” Wenks said in a recent review. “It is an action roguelike developed and published by Supergiant Games, where you play as the earth goddess Melinoë. Roguelikes draw their name from their kinship to the 1980 dungeon crawler Rogue, which is the first really popular game to use procedurally generated content. My score for Hades II is 85.”
Wenks’ method has changed the face of online game criticism, with many Twitter Blue subscribers immediately jumping onto the GamerThink bandwagon.
“For too long, Western game reviews have been plagued by activist critics who use them as a soapbox to pursue their agenda,” said self-proclaimed memelord Modern Herodotus. “When I look for a review, I don’t want to hear about a game’s subtext, design, story, plot, or female characters who are showing insufficient amounts of polygon poon. I want my biases immediately confirmed by someone who’s a 1-to-1 demographic match with me.”
The GamerThink method has gotten immediate results. Wenks reports that his channel has gone from 23 to 2,000 subscribers in the last few weeks, with more signing in every day.
At press time, Wenks latest video, an Objective Review of Multiversus is being hailed as the best ASMR video to fall asleep to.
