About Me

Hi, I go by pang. I’ve been writing video game critique since about 2020; first just for myself, then on Backloggd, and then on Cohost. I jump between review styles pretty frequently, but most of my work focuses on mechanical analysis. You’ll often find me playing or writing about the following:

• Late ’90s / Early ’00s titles
• Action / Puzzle hybrids
• Survival Horror games
• Arcade Rhythm games
• Obscure Japanese games

Day-to-day I work as a Ph.D. student at an east coast research university. When I research I work on dependable systems (primarily civil air safety), and when I teach I cover software engineering and system architecture. These topics come up in my writing occasionally; I try to take a systematic approach to game critique (a fancy way of saying that I look at how different components function together to create particular gameplay experiences).

My reviews on here mix new stuff I’ve completed, first impressions on random games I’m trying, and rewritten versions of my old Backloggd reviews. I also write more general articles on my philosophy of critique and common gaming structures / mechanics. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Bluesky. I also am a regular contributor on the Beach Gen Game Club podcast, which you can find on YouTube.