Jon Bailes

Social Links Navigation

Freelance Games Critic

Jon Bailes is a freelance games critic, author and social theorist. After completing a PhD in European Studies, he first wrote about games in his book Ideology and the Virtual City, and has since gone on to write features, reviews, and analysis for Edge, Washington Post, Wired, The Guardian, and many other publications. His gaming tastes were forged by old arcade games such as R-Type and classic JRPGs like Phantasy Star. These days he’s especially interested in games that tell stories in interesting ways, from Dark Souls to Celeste, or anything that offers something a little different.

Latest articles by Jon Bailes

A close-up of Sofia in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

"We nailed it": Resonance A Plague Tale Legacy's designer on pairing "brutal" tone with fun combat

By Jon Bailes Published 29 July 26

Interview The Plague Tale prequel's creative director and level designer talk crafting ancient tombs, and how they "wanted to move on from the pure stealth gameplay"

Interview

If you loved Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, find a way to play one of the Xbox 360's best-kept secrets

By Jon Bailes Published 10 May 26

Retro How Hironobu Sakaguchi's clash of past and present created a true final fantasy

Retro

"We want you to feel like it's the game you remember playing": System Shock and Dead Space devs on the art of the remake

By Jon Bailes Published 29 December 25

Interview Interview | Exploring what goes into an excellent game remake or remaster with the minds behind some of the best

Interview

Animal Well review: "An endlessly inventive Metroidvania with unfathomable depth"

By Jon Bailes Published 9 May 24

Review

How voxels, pink laser death and a shred of humanity made this breakneck arcade shooter an all-timer

By Jon Bailes Published 22 April 24

Features Opinion | Nex Machina was a bullet-hell haven in every stretch of the genre

Features

How this open-world puzzle game classic helped us come to terms with human extinction by tapping into our thirst for storytelling

By Jon Bailes Published 14 April 24

Interview Opinion | Join Edge magazine as it takes a retrospective deep dive into high-brow puzzler The Talos Principle

Interview

Broken Roads review: "Systems that sound good on paper don't work as intended"

By Jon Bailes Published 10 April 24

Review

Dragon's Dogma 2 review: "Embrace the chaos and there's nothing quite like it"

By Jon Bailes Published 22 March 24

Review

Revisiting this 24-year-old JRPG classic from the PS1 era proves there's no smoke without fire

By Jon Bailes Published 18 March 24

Features Opinion | Breath of Fire 4 is somehow almost a quarter of a century old – here, Play magazine remembers what made it so great

Features

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden screenshot captured on PS5

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review: "The story is the best reason to see it through"

By Jon Bailes Published 12 February 24

Review

In defense of one of PlayStation's most divisive giant cat-bird companions

By Jon Bailes Published 11 February 24

Features Opinion | Stubborn, awkward; loveable, hate-able

Features

12 years on, this PS Vita-exclusive action adventure game still one of the very best

By Jon Bailes Published 10 February 24

Features Opinion | Remastered in 2015 for the PS4, Gravity Rush's initial handheld-only outing is one to remember

Features

From Call of Cthulhu to Dredge to Bloodborne, why does Lovecraft's influence on games continue to grow?

By Jon Bailes Published 2 December 23

Features Interview | Edge magazine explores the video game influence of HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos

Features

With Kojima Productions on board, 2010's Castlevania Lords of Shadow remains one of the action adventure dynasty's most intriguing installments

By Jon Bailes Published 23 November 23

Features Opinion | 13 years on, it's safe to say Kojima Productions and MercurySteam vamped things up a few notches

Features

American Arcadia review: "Stylish, smart, and highly entertaining"

By Jon Bailes Published 15 November 23

Review

How Final Fantasy 15's spoiled royal camping trip was saved by the friends we made on the way

By Jon Bailes Published 11 November 23

Opinion Opinion | "What these episodes and other additions in 2018's Royal Edition can't do, however, is complete the game"

Opinion

Robocop: Rogue City review: "Short on engaging mission design and the film's punchy satire"

By Jon Bailes Published 31 October 23

Review

Endless Dungeon review: "An entertaining and finely-tuned roguelike"

By Jon Bailes Published 16 October 23

Review

As geeky and delusional as he may be, No More Heroes' antihero is one of the best assassins of all time

By Jon Bailes Published 15 October 23

Opinion Opinion | Travis Touchdown isn't perfect, far from it, but that doesn't mean he's not worth celebrating

Opinion

Sea of Stars review: "A delicious, Michelin-starred tasting menu of an RPG"

By Jon Bailes Published 28 August 23

Review

Atlas Fallen review: "A very ordinary execution of very ordinary ideas"

By Jon Bailes Published 9 August 23

Review

Over 10 years later, Bayonetta is still one of the best action games

By Jon Bailes Published 15 July 23

Opinion Opinion | Bayonetta is the queen of the action game genre

Opinion

Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals review: "A disappointing sequel"

By Jon Bailes Published 12 July 23

Review

After Us review: "A hazy concoction of beauty and ugliness"

By Jon Bailes Published 23 May 23

Review

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review: "Builds on the core quality of the Nioh games"

By Jon Bailes Published 2 March 23

Review

1 2 Archives

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.