Discussing reviews with reviews editor Chris Tapsell
Score.
Did you know he was nearly a professional footballer? If it hadn't been for a shoulder injury when he was a teenager, we might well have seen him on TV playing for a top club. He had try-outs at a few of them. He might even have been England's goalkeeper - who knows?!
I know he'll hate me saying that.
Nevertheless, fate intervened and we got him. He is Chris Tapsell. He began writing guides at Eurogamer several years ago and his aptitude for critical writing - and Pokémon - was obvious, so his role evolved. He joined the features team, writing about how he appeared in Football Manager one year, the braggart, before sliding with more focus towards reviews.
He would go on to handle some of the biggest reviews in recent years, for games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Returnal, while behind the scenes taking on editor responsibilities in the area. And so it was that when he was named the new reviews editor in November last year, he was already off to a running start.
In the few months since, Chris has instigated the Games That Got Away series, where we caught up on games that had passed us by, and kept us on top of one of the busiest beginnings to a year in memory. Elden Whatwasthat? And he's got big plans for this year and the years ahead.
To hear Chris talk about everything reviews and more besides, tune into Episode 13 of The New Eurogamer Podcast, now available to all and from all major podcast platforms (if you can't find it, let me know and I'll sort it out).
Here are some handy links:
You can find all of the previous episodes of The New Eurogamer Podcast (and all the episodes before that) in our podcast archive. And remember, subscribers to the Eurogamer website get these early. They can tune in now to Episode 14, where I get a publisher perspective and talk to the founder of No More Robots - known for Hypnospace Outlaw and Descenders and Yes, Your Grace and Not Tonight - Mike Rose.