Priya N.
Editor-in-Chief · RPGs
Clocked 400 hours in Baldur's Gate 3 and still finds new bugs. Runs the scoring rubric.
Departures from Melbourne · Est. 2016
Where every quest gets a fair review.
Independent gaming coverage from a Little Collins Street studio — RPG breakdowns, esports dispatches and buyer guides written by players, not press releases.
Our mission
No sponsored scores. No hype cycles. Just the games, timed and tabled.
We treat games like flights on a departures board — logged, timed and honestly rated. Every review notes hours played, platform tested and whether it was worth boarding. Ten years on, we still pay for our own copies.
1,240+
Games logged & scored
62k
Monthly readers
9 yrs
On the beat
0
Paid placements
The crew
The warriors behind the desk
Five Melbourne locals who argue about frame rates so you don't have to.
Marcus T.
Esports Correspondent
Courtside at every Melbourne LAN since 2018. Covers the ANZ competitive circuit.
Sana K.
Retro & Preservation
Keeps a CRT lab in Fitzroy. Writes our cartridge deep-dives and emulation guides.
Dylan R.
Hardware & Buyer Guides
Benchmarks handhelds on the tram. Our resident value-for-money sceptic.
Bianca L.
Indie & Community
Hunts down local devs at PAX Aus and turns their stories into features.
Join the roster
We take freelance pitches from Australian writers year-round. No agency required.
Send a pitchWhat we cover
The departures board
Regular columns, priced memberships and one-off deep dives — pick your gate.
The Long Playthrough
Our flagship RPG reviews — minimum 40 hours logged before a score. Full spoiler-free verdicts plus a separate endgame breakdown for those who've finished.
Free · New review every Thursday
Gate 22: Esports
Weekly ANZ competitive wrap — results, roster moves and match analysis.
Free · Mondays 9am AEST
Warrior Pass
Members-only early reviews, monthly hardware benchmarks and ad-free reading.
AU$7 / month
The Cartridge Files
Fortnightly retro deep-dives and preservation guides from our Fitzroy CRT lab.
Free · Every second Saturday
Buyer Guides & Benchmarks
Handhelds, GPUs and peripherals tested against local AU pricing — no affiliate spin, we flag the best value and tell you what to skip.
Free · Updated monthly
From the readers
Boarding passes, stamped
Carlton, VIC
"Their Warrior Pass benchmark talked me out of a GPU I didn't need and into a handheld I love. Saved me about AU$600."
Auckland, NZ
"The only site whose RPG scores I actually trust. The 40-hour minimum shows — they catch the pacing issues everyone else misses."
Melbourne, VIC
"The Cartridge Files got my old Mega Drive running again. Clear, patient guides with none of the gatekeeping you usually get."
The dispatch
One email a week. No spoilers, no spam.
Get every new review, the esports wrap and members-only discounts straight to your inbox each Friday morning.
✓Thank you! You're on the list — see you Friday.
Get in touch
Pitch, tip or say hello
Story tips, review requests and freelance pitches all land in the same inbox. We read everything within two business days.
- Phone
- +61 3 9650 4372
- [email protected]
- Studio
- 129 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 9:00am–5:30pm AEST