Founder rate ends 9th September.

We’re rebuilding theartsdesk to secure the future of real arts journalism. Be part of it by subscribing: if you do it now, the founders’ rate of just £40 yearly is yours FOR LIFE!

SUBSCRIBE NOW 

gaming
Joe Muggs |

You can’t really understand house music without grasping the influence of the Black American church.

theartsdesk |

We are bowled over! 

We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the response to our appeal to help us relaunch and reboot has been something else.

Jon Turney
For a couple of decades, the free video game America’s Army was a powerful recruitment aid for the US military. More than a shoot-em-up, players…
Steve O'Rourke
Rage 2 is a wacky Dayglo-infused post-apocalyptic world filled with various different factions who, for one reason or another, want you dead. Think…
Steve O'Rourke
Based on the 2006 book of the same name, and set in the same universe as the 2013 film adaptation, World War Z follows groups of survivors of a…

Help secure the future of arts journalism

In this era of algorithmic recommendation, opaquely sponsored content and AI slop, theartsdesk’s mission to preserve real journalistic and critical values has never been more important.

If you like what you see here, please join us in this mission.

Subscribing to the site will help us in our coming redesign and expansion.

If you do this before the 31st August this will be at our guaranteed founder’s rate: 
your subs will never increase again.

Subscribe now for £5 per month. 
or yearly for just £40.

Or if you simply want to support us with a one-off donation, you can do so here.

Steve O'Rourke
Few fresh ideas means this movie adaptation treads the same old ground
Steve O'Rourke
A rocky start for a new franchise that offers potential and problems in equal measure
Steve O'Rourke
Nearly a decade has passed since the last incarnation but little has changed in this stagnant shooter
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran series returns for another ambitious tour of duty
Steve O'Rourke
When home runs go horribly wrong
Steve O'Rourke
An ambitious Wild West odyssey that matches epic scale with benchmark skill
Steve O'Rourke
Solo rations have been relegated from this benchmark war series
Steve O'Rourke
It looks and plays great, but what’s new?
Alfred Quantrill
A comprehensive look at gaming present and future has surprisingly broad appeal
Steve O'Rourke
Swinging in the city with the arachnid avenger
Steve O'Rourke
High tech meets high calibre in this year’s list of gaming’s brightest sparks
Steve O'Rourke
A comprehensive management sim where you feed the exhibits, the punters and your bank balance
theartsdesk
In association with The Hospital Club's h.Club100 Awards, we're looking for the best cultural writers, bloggers and vloggers
Steve O'Rourke
A big budget interactive story where your decisions can flip the script
theartsdesk
Enter our competition to win a spectacular weekend at England's finest arts festival
Steve O'Rourke
Father-son adventure is a slick and gorgeous spectacle
Steve O'Rourke
God, guns and the great outdoors
Steve O'Rourke
Bring out your wild side in this strange survivalist simulation
Steve O'Rourke
Why bob and weave when you can ground and pound?
Steve O'Rourke
Quality nearly matches quantity
Steve O'Rourke
The force is less strong with this one
Steve O'Rourke
Little blocks, big heroes, loads of fun
Steve O'Rourke
The veteran franchise returns for another bout of epic war games
theartsdesk
News from The Hospital Club's annual awards for the creative industries, plus theartsdesk's Young Reviewer of the Year

latest in today

“Ish” is the name of the lead character in this movie, but it also might be a suffix attached to adjectives describing it. Here we have a…
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is a love story whose heart has been torn on barbed wire. Yes, that’s what it feels like. Sounds intense? Okay,…
Richard Dadd is best known as the mad Victorian painter incarcerated in mental hospitals for 42 years for killing his father; but this…
The pre-publication scuttlebutt on this book suggested that not only would it be David Thomson’s last, but also that it marked a dramatic…
You can’t really understand house music without grasping the influence of the Black American church. As it coalesced from the remnants of…
You can tell what a festival believes in by where the crowds crush the hardest. At Latitude, it's in the forest for the up-and-coming acts…
FRIDAY 24 JULY, by Guy OddyEven for a festival whose whole purpose is to platform a rich range of artists from cultures all around the…
This album is such a remarkable document, and on so many levels. Perhaps its main "story" is that it could well be the very last studio…
Had you been at John Wilson's Respighi spectacular on Friday, or heard it on BBC Radio 3/watched it on BBC Four, you might have perceived…
Growing up in Liverpool, it’s usually not long before you visit the vast golden sands of Prestatyn, still the best beach I’ve ever seen,…

Most read

Maybe it was the cold weather. Maybe it was the disparate list of comics on the bill. Maybe it was a host (Fatiha El-Ghorri) who said that…
Can the 1916 Prologue of Strauss and Hofmannsthal added to a revised version of a 1912 opera-within-a-play setting the backstage…
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s film was a surprise hit at Cannes last year, winning the Critics’ Week Grand Prize. It’s a ghost story that…
Europe's biggest comedy festival, which showcases established stars, works in progress, workshops and competitions, kicks off next month,…
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is a love story whose heart has been torn on barbed wire. Yes, that’s what it feels like. Sounds intense? Okay,…
FRIDAY 24 JULY, by Guy OddyEven for a festival whose whole purpose is to platform a rich range of artists from cultures all around the…
Forget Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with bells, cannons and military bands (most people have, but it was my introduction to the Albert Hall…
Richard Dadd is best known as the mad Victorian painter incarcerated in mental hospitals for 42 years for killing his father; but this…
A startling one in 10 British adults apparently went to a music festival this year. Given that I’m a music journalist and I didn’t, maybe I…
You don't have to be mad to enjoy Gerald Barry's methodically berserk approach to Wilde, but your wits might have begun to turn by the…