Sony/Rockstar GamesIt’s fair to say that video games aren’t always beneficial to the health and happiness of a relationship. Try playing Mario Party without nearly breaking up, for example.
Single player games are naturally the worst culprit though. Getting lost in a title like Red Dead or God of War can often leave your partner in the cold, or potentially drive them to sneakily download Tinder while you explore Hyrule.
YouTube channel Girlfriend Reviews (originally called Shelby & Daphne) has been posting a number of insightful, relatable, and genuinely hilarious accounts called “Girlfriend Reviews”, in which we get to hear what it’s like to be in a relationship with a hardcore gamer.
It started with an incredible account of what it was like to be the girlfriend of someone who was obsessed with Red Dead Redemption 2, discussing one of the biggest games of the year from the perspective of someone who isn’t necessarily fussed about these things.
Our reviewer had such a fresh, entertaining take on a game that had already been discussed to death. This, in addition to some genuinely brilliant editing, helped the video to absolutely smash on YouTube.
After being posted in early November, their Red Dead Redemption 2 review already sits at over 1 million views and the channel itself boasts over 220,000 well deserved subscribers. They’ve since gone on to post “girlfriend reviews” of Dark Souls, Spider-Man, God of War, and so many more.
Each video offers a number of takes that you or I might not even have considered, such as how annoying it is to watch your partner play through a game like Dead Cells when they have to go back to the very start every time they die, or how tiresome hearing your partner constantly raging at Dark Souls can get.
If you haven’t checked any of the videos out already, I thoroughly recommend the channel. Whether you’re a gamer who hogs the telly to play Breath of the Wild, or the poor soul who has to sit and watch, there’s something here for everyone.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.