Fitzroy · Melbourne · Est. 2014
Mystic Circle Guild
A Melbourne gaming blog for people who read the credits. RPG deep-dives, indie spotlights, frame-perfect speedrun breakdowns, and love letters to the arcade cabinets that raised us.
+61 3 9419 0418
Our Mission
We write about games like they matter — because they do.
Mystic Circle Guild started as a zine handed out at Fitzroy arcade nights and grew into one of Australia's most-read independent gaming blogs. No review-score theatre, no press-junket recycling — just three editors, a wall of consoles, and a stubborn belief that a good boss fight deserves the same close reading as a good film.
1,240+
Reviews & guides published
86k
Monthly readers
11
Years covering the scene
From the Cabinet
Snapshots from the newsroom floor
Launch nights, arcade crawls, and the controllers we destroyed testing them — straight from our Rose Street studio.
Retro arcade crawl through Fitzroy — 14 cabinets in one night.
What We Cover
Five columns, updated every week
Every Sunday we publish a 3,000-word breakdown of one role-playing game: build theorycraft, narrative structure, and difficulty tuning. Recent entries covered Baldur's Gate 3 companion arcs and the economy design of Final Fantasy XIV. Members get the annotated spoiler track.
We champion Australian and Southeast Asian indie studios with hands-on previews and developer interviews. If a game moves us we run a full feature before launch day, and we never accept payment for coverage — supporters just kick in what they like from AU$0.
Our speedrun column dissects world-record runs frame by frame with route maps and input timelines. Subscribers at AU$6/month get downloadable practice splits and Discord VOD reviews with the runners themselves.
A weekend longread on the arcade and console classics that shaped the medium, shot on real CRTs in our studio. Expect restoration notes, cartridge teardowns, and interviews with the collectors keeping the machines alive.
A tightly edited daily digest of what actually matters: release dates, studio news, and preservation stories — no rage-bait, no rumour laundering. Delivered by 8am AEST so you start the day already caught up.
The Guild Roll
What our readers say
Comment-section regulars, Discord members, and launch-night companions from around Australia.
“The Baldur's Gate 3 deep-dive changed how I built my whole party. No other blog respects readers enough to go this deep. I renew my membership every year.”
“I run a small studio in Adelaide and the Indie Spotlight feature they wrote pre-launch doubled our wishlist adds overnight. Honest, thorough, zero strings attached.”
“The frame-by-frame speedrun splits are unreal. I shaved 40 seconds off my personal best after one of their route breakdowns. Worth every dollar of the AU$6.”
“Retro Rewind is the only column my dad and I read together. Their CRT restoration piece got us fixing an old arcade board in the garage all winter.”
“The Patch Notes digest replaced five newsletters for me. Concise, no clickbait, and it lands before my morning coffee. Exactly what gaming news should be.”
“I came for a review, stayed for the community. The Discord VOD reviews with actual world-record holders are the best gaming content in the country.”
Reach the Newsroom
Pitch us, correct us, or just say hi
Story tips, review requests, and press keys welcome. We read everything and reply to most within two business days.
Newsroom line
+61 3 9419 0418Studio
101 Rose Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Studio hours
Mon–Fri, 10am–6pm AEST · Arcade nights every second Thursday