A Melbourne game journal
Carved tales from the pixel frontier.
Deep RPG lore breakdowns, honest reviews, and indie spotlights — printed the slow way, one carved line at a time, from a small desk on Bourke Street.
Who we are
Slow words about fast games.
CrystalFireFrontier started in 2017 as a zine handed out at Melbourne arcade meetups. Today it's a two-person newsroom that publishes three long reads a week — always played to completion before a single line is written.
Our promise
No hype, no paid placements.
We buy our own copies, refuse review embargoes that gag criticism, and mark every affiliate link plainly. If a game costs $89.95 and plays like $9, we'll tell you — and show you three cheaper things worth your weekend instead.
How a post is made
From first boot to final print.
Play to credits
Every title is finished — main story plus side content — before we open the draft. Average 32 hours logged per review.
Carve the notes
Screenshots, systems and story beats get pinned to a physical board, then whittled down to the one idea worth a headline.
Write & fact-check
Two editors trade the draft, verify patch notes and dev quotes, and score against our published rubric — never a vibe.
Print & publish
Each piece ships with a hand-inked header illustration and lands in your inbox every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 9am AEST.
What we publish
Columns worth the read.
Lore Deep-Dives
We trace a single world's mythology across every entry in the series, cross-referencing item text, cut content and dev interviews.
From the mailbag
Readers who stuck around.
Your 6,000-word Elden Ring lore piece finally made the Erdtree make sense. I cancelled two other subscriptions to fund this one.
The indie spotlight put me onto a $12 puzzle game I've now sunk 40 hours into. No other outlet was even covering it. October 2024.
Honest scores I actually trust. When you gave the big holiday release a 6, I saved myself ninety bucks and a weekend of regret.
Good to know
Questions readers ask.
Still unsure about something? Send us a note through the contact form below and we'll answer within two business days.
Is the blog free to read?+
Every article is free on the site, forever. A $6/month membership is optional — it unlocks the full back catalogue of print illustrations and an ad-free reading mode, and it keeps the lights on for our no-sponsorship policy.
How do you score games?+
We use a plain 1–10 scale published on our rubric page, judging design, technical state at launch and value for money. A score is set by two editors and never changes for review copies or ad deals — because we don't take them.
Can I pitch a guest article?+
Yes. We run one guest column a month and pay a flat AUD $250 per accepted piece. Email a 150-word pitch with two writing samples and we'll reply within a fortnight, whether it's a yes or a no.
Do you cover mobile and retro titles?+
Absolutely. Roughly a third of our archive is dedicated to retro re-releases and standout mobile releases. Our Craft Guides column also breaks down older games' systems for designers studying what made them tick.
Say hello
Join the print run.
Send a message, pitch a story, or subscribe to the newsletter. We read every note from our desk on Bourke Street.
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Phone
+61 3 9654 7328 -
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Email
[email protected] -
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Studio
67 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
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Desk hours
Mon–Fri, 10am–6pm AEST