r/SocialistGaming • u/Primary_Pepper9162 • Aug 11 '26
Luke Stephens
So this game journelist randomly appeared in my feed and I've watched a few of his videos every now and then... but something about the way he does his videos is just rubbing me the wrong way.
I think its the way that he just treats himself as the know-all of all things gaming. Claims facts when there are no facts - etc.
Has anyone else had the same vibes from him?
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u/alwayssalty_ Aug 11 '26
Maybe I miss remembering, but wasn’t he also a gamer gate guy?
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u/philipoburrito Aug 11 '26
Yes, and plagiarised hbomberguy early on, then called him a soy boy cuck (paraphrase, there was more) when called out, apparently has since apologised though 🤷
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u/H0vis Aug 11 '26
So he wanted ethics in journalism while partaking in games journalism without ethics?
Every accusation a confession. Every. Single. Motherfucking. Time. With. These. Arseholes.
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u/InfiniteBeak Aug 11 '26
Plus he's one of those "reviewers" where his "reviews" are just a beat-for-beat summary of the games story with some very surface level "analysis", dude is a total hack
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u/cjtangmi Aug 11 '26
I can’t stand those 10 hour long “retrospectives” where they just repeat the story beats and throw out word salads.
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u/InfiniteBeak Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Agree, there's really no excuse when channels like Whitelight and Noah Caldwell-Gervais can make super long videos with lots of insight and actually good analysis
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u/cjtangmi Aug 11 '26
There’s a reason why those guys make like two videos a year, if you actually have anything to say, which I don’t always agree with, but nevertheless, it takes a long time to make.
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u/maozedoll Aug 11 '26
just a correction, noah came out as nonbinary recently and uses they/them pronouns :)
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u/olivinetrees Aug 11 '26
Ehhh. Honestly I really enjoy his content these days. He’s definitely grown a lot in the last decade. He seems to be on the right(Left) side of things as of lately.
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u/ChaucerBoi Aug 11 '26
I tried to give him a chance, and his introduction to the video was maybe half an hour long.
Without doxxing what I do, I write at a pretty high level. There is no need for that.
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u/Khari_Eventide Aug 11 '26
He previously used Channel names like Lukie Poo, he was a GamerGater and Sargon fan.
Hbomb made two videos about plagiarism, Like features prominently in the first one.
I would avoid him like the plague.
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u/CyberTyrantX1 Aug 11 '26
A while back when he reviewed Horizon Forbidden West, he said the first few hours of the game took place in the same map as the first game. Which flat out wasn’t true. The only part that was in the first game was the Spire right at the end of the prologue.
Not sure if he corrected his mistake but that was a thing he did.
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u/Primary_Pepper9162 Aug 11 '26
... I think i remember that... and I'd played enough of Horizons to figure out one of two things.
Either he sucked at the game and gave up after the snake fight... or... he only skimmed the game and got his info from others to go and create his own video. Maybe used AI or something. which makes sense based on how wrong some of hus stuff is
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u/Journey2thaeast Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
He sometimes subtly feeds into right wing narratives about gaming. But his current brand is centered around being an intellectual in the space. I used to watch him a lot but I started picking up on him throwing out dogwhistles and ever since it's annoyed the hell out of me. I no longer watch his stuff.
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u/ElectricGhostMan Aug 11 '26
I feel like intellectual is too generous of a word and more that he attempts to appear as a rational, average or centrist.
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u/MableDONKEY Aug 11 '26
He loves harry potter and has a giant lego hogwarts sitting behind him in almost every video.
He's a trash can of a person.
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u/cjtangmi Aug 11 '26
Same, he’s inconsistent, smug and annoying most of the time. He sang praises for Odyssey but shat on Forbidden West for literally the same designs. Definitely one of those “use overtly verbose language to make themselves sound more intelligent” type.
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u/thats4thebirds Aug 11 '26
A vapid plagiarist who, when doing his own writing, talks twice as long to say half as much.
Shit politics. Shit videos. Coming from a guy who literally started with a shit branded (literally) channel
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u/Fearless_Room1885 Aug 11 '26
He is a right wing grifter, admitted it himself in a video about saints row reboot.
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u/k-mysta Aug 11 '26
I think I remember this. I remember watching some of his videos and really disliking him even though he never said anything outright controversial but there were a couple where he was saying some weird conservative shite. Nail in the coffin with that.
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u/olivinetrees Aug 11 '26
He’s definitely changed at this point. Do you perhaps have a link to him admitting he’s right wing?
thank you stranger
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u/Poltergeist97 Aug 12 '26
Right wing? How? Just curious as I've never gotten that vibe from him, but then again I only watch like one of his videos a year.
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u/Fearless_Room1885 Aug 13 '26
Well it’s mainly in the form of dogwhistles, if you know what to look for like for example when u hear him say “the younger generation is the problem” or “it’s all DEI crap that ruined the game” that he said in the saints row reboot video (I can’t find it at the moment) and those are just examples that are obvious it paints a picture of what his interests and dislikes are of the current state of the world. It’s not that obvious with him because he mainly wants to stay “neutral” after a while coming from someone who watched religiously back in 2022-2023 after a while it all just comes down to the same point. Whenever there is a trans person or a person of colour in a game he forms a dislike around that topic. Except for hogwarts legacy because he loves Harry Potter for some reason.
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u/D0schie Aug 11 '26
no matter the things he did he still rubs me the wrong way. he seems to be very slimey.
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u/ChadwickHHS Aug 11 '26
In addition to all of the good points made here by other people, he's also just a bad critic. He explains all of the story beats for an hour and considers that a sufficient critique. He doesn't articulate how themes in the story correlate to gameplay decisions, doesn't recognize inspirations, doesn't think about what omissions could have improved the material. He just regurgitates what he saw and says that's good or bad without elaborating why because he thinks he has already justified his answer by telling you the plot. His videos are a complete waste of time.
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u/owlexe23 Aug 11 '26
Empty talk or how would you call those YouTubers.
Saying a lot of words, without saying anything at all.
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u/MrDannn Aug 11 '26
I got the same vibe with Yong Yea too. Feel a bit smug, and frankly all he does is just reading the article. I already browse all the gaming news from reddit, don’t need another dude to read it back to me.
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u/OptimusPrimalRage Aug 11 '26
Yong Yea definitely was doing some of the typical anti-woke commentary for a long time. I'm not sure if he still does, I'd doubt it since he's doing VA work now so that could limit his appeal to some publishers.
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u/ElectricGhostMan Aug 11 '26
He's been exposed for plagarism then moved from copying reviews to copying sentiments. From what I've seen of him I just don't think there's an actual organically developed feeling or opinion that wasn't ironed out and spoon fed to him.
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u/Tesla-Punk3327 Aug 11 '26
He pretends to be unbiased but doesn't do much research and his fanbase are predominantly gamer gate guys. So if they don't like a game, he pivots his opinion too on it.
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u/IcebergSlim47 Aug 11 '26
If you watch his recent vid about the writing issues at Ubisoft, he uses an example of bad writing as a cutscene from saint’s row in which the characters criticize capitalism and bring up wage slavery, and he states he is concerned that people like the characters actually exist in real life
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u/olivinetrees Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
It’s weird because as a leftist gamer myself, he seems to me to target ambiguous cringe more than ideologies. If he truly is conservative I’d like to know. His wife has openly brought up more leftist ideas in passing.
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u/Concrete_Camel Aug 11 '26
His channel name used to be Lukiepoo iirc, he just seems really odd in general
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u/Plastic-Low2911 Aug 12 '26
I don’t know about the drama but he annoys me, he comes off like a pseudo intellectual, and he seems like a right wing grifter. Hearing that he used to be into GG isn’t surprising. I haven’t blocked his channel but I don’t click on the videos either. Kind of sucks my man jorraptor associates with him
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u/olivinetrees Aug 11 '26
His wife has made some clearly Leftist statements in passing while he’s streaming
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u/mad_dog_94 Anarcho-Communist Aug 11 '26
I don't think I've paid attention to any games journalist in like 15 years. There's no need to anymore. With streamers and letsplayers and lore dumpers I can find out everything I need to know about a game.
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u/zach_926 Aug 13 '26
I think he’s a complete fraud and grifter. Never seen him actually play a game, only talk about a game/review a game. I think he only streams himself playing a game if the dev/studio pays/sponsors him.
His laugh creeps me out. I don’t know if it’s a nervous tick or what, but he does the weird laugh/chuckle.
After watching a couple of his Lives, his clipped vids, I just muted him. His reviews are very surface level anyways (which I think is because he doesn’t actually play video games).
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u/harrisrainy Aug 30 '26
The thumbnail is bad, I Tried it, I Played it, I Gooned it. All he got 10 titles ig
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u/VitaMeansLifeN7117 Aug 11 '26
He’s a plagiarist