RPG
80 Hours in the Ashlands: A CRPG Review
Why the third act finally earns its slow burn.
Made in Collingwood, Melbourne
Where every battle gets a second look.
Phantom Battle Vanguard stitches together honest RPG reviews, frame-by-frame esports breakdowns and indie finds you won't see on the front page — three long-reads every week, no clickbait.
Our mission
Coverage that respects your time and your backlog.
We started in 2018 as a Smith Street lounge-room podcast and grew into a full editorial desk. Every review is played to credits or at least 40 hours, every benchmark is run on our own rigs, and every recommendation is one we'd give a mate. No sponsored scores, ever.
1,200+
Games played to completion since launch
3
Fresh long-reads published every week
0
Paid placements or pay-to-play scores
What we cover
Six desks, one obsessive standard.
RPG Deep Dives
Full-playthrough reviews of JRPGs, CRPGs and immersive sims — build guides, ending breakdowns and honest pacing notes for 60-hour epics.
Esports Breakdowns
Frame-by-frame analysis of the OCE circuit — draft theory, clutch VOD reviews and meta shifts across CS2, League and Valorant.
Indie Spotlights
Weekly finds from itch.io and local Aussie devs — the two-hour gems and experimental oddities the algorithm keeps burying.
Hardware Bench
Real-rig benchmarks with local pricing in AUD — handhelds, GPUs and mechanical boards tested for a fortnight before we say a word.
Lore & Story
Long-form essays untangling game narratives, worldbuilding and the writers behind them — spoiler-tagged and citation-backed.
Speedrun Desk
Route explainers and record interviews from the AGDQ-adjacent scene — how a world record actually gets shaved by 0.4 seconds.
From the desk
Recent long-reads by category.
Esports
The Draft That Won OCE Split Two
A pick-ban post-mortem, round by round.
Indie
The Two-Hour Gem from a Geelong Dev
A hand-drawn puzzler worth your afternoon.
Hardware
Handheld Showdown: Two Weeks, Six Rigs
Battery, thermals and value in AUD.
RPG
Every Ending, Ranked and Explained
Spoiler-tagged guide to all nine finales.
Esports
The Patch That Broke the Meta
Five agents in, three out — what changed.
Indie
Interview: Building a Roguelike Solo
Four years, one developer, no publisher.
Hardware
Mechanical Boards Under $200 AUD
Sound tests, switch feel and hot-swap notes.
From the community
Readers who stopped doom-scrolling.
★★★★★
"Their 80-hour Ashlands review saved me from bouncing off act one. I trusted the pacing note, stuck with it, and it's now my game of the year."
★★★★★
"The OCE draft breakdowns are the only esports coverage I actually finish. It reads like sitting next to a coach, not a hype reel."
★★★★★
"I bought a handheld off their two-week benchmark instead of a launch-day hot take. Best $600 AUD I've spent — the thermals warning was spot on."
★★★★★
"Their indie spotlight put a tiny Geelong dev's puzzler on my radar. I would never have found it otherwise, and it wrecked me in the best way."
★★★★★
"No paid scores means I can actually plan my backlog around their reviews. The Vanguard membership pays for itself in games I didn't waste money on."
★★★★★
"The speedrun route explainer finally made me understand how records get shaved. I've been running the same game for weeks now — hooked."
Membership
Back the desk, ditch the ads.
Reading is always free. Membership keeps us independent and unlocks the extras. Prices in AUD, cancel anytime.
Reader
$0 /forever
- ✓ Every article, no paywall
- ✓ Weekly email digest
- ✓ Community comment access
Vanguard
Most popular$9 /month
- ✓ Ad-free, tracker-free reading
- ✓ Full benchmark spreadsheets
- ✓ Early access to reviews
- ✓ Monthly members-only Discord AMA
Patron
$25 /month
- ✓ Everything in Vanguard
- ✓ Name in every article credits
- ✓ Vote on our next deep dive
- ✓ Quarterly print zine, posted
Get in touch
Pitch a story, or just say g'day.
Got a tip, a local dev to spotlight, or a review request? The desk reads everything. We're at the Smith Street studio Monday to Friday, 10am–6pm AEST.