Adam Starkey
Adam Starkey focuses on how games feel to play day to day, weighing mechanics, monetisation and accessibility against the expectations of fans and the wider entertainment audience. His coverage at Metro centres on console and PC titles with a particular emphasis on Nintendo and competitive games, mixing straight reviews with news and commentary on major releases and hardware. Alongside games, he works as an entertainment journalist across multiple outlets, covering TV, film, music and esports and writing in formats ranging from breaking news to long-form features.
Game reviews and hands-on criticism
Starkey writes regular game reviews for Metro, delivering clear, player-focused verdicts on new releases. His coverage includes titles such as Coromon, where he frames the game explicitly as “the ultimate Pokémon clone,” signalling how closely it tracks a familiar template and what that means for fans of creature-collecting RPGs.
In his review of Pokémon Unite, he highlights the “gotta buy ’em all” nature of its systems, underlining how microtransactions and progression shape the real experience of playing a popular multiplayer title. Pieces on Chocobo GP and Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain dig into how racing and puzzle mechanics translate into satisfying, repeatable play sessions, focusing on structure, balance and local multiplayer appeal rather than just surface presentation.
Reviews of Lost In Random and The Vale: Shadow Of The Crown pay particular attention to unusual design choices, such as dice-based combat and audio-driven gameplay without graphics, showing his interest in games that experiment with form as well as those that iterate on established genres.
Nintendo, fighting games and live service titles
A recurring thread in Starkey’s Metro work is coverage of Nintendo platforms and franchises, from Pokémon Unite and Big Brain Academy to audio-led indie projects released on Switch. He also spends time on fighting games and crossover titles, as seen in his analysis of Tekken’s Kazuya joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which argues that the character helps demonstrate the depth of Smash’s fighting systems beyond party game perceptions. His reporting on upcoming projects tied to major studios includes coverage of the next game from the developer of The Last Of Us, where he notes that the project takes cues from Elden Ring and is designed to make players feel lost and confused, indicating his interest in challenging, exploration-heavy design and the way studios talk about player experience. Hardware and the business side of gaming also enter his beat, with pieces such as his report on PS5 Pro scalpers losing money but continuing to exploit demand, showing he follows pricing, scarcity and consumer impact around consoles as closely as he does in-game economies.
Trailers, reveals and franchise news
Starkey’s gaming coverage extends beyond reviews into news about major reveals and how audiences respond to them. In his work on 2026 game showcases, he tracks how a new God Of War entry becomes the most popular reveal while another title delivers the biggest trailer performance, emphasising how attention is distributed across a slate rather than focusing only on headline franchises. This kind of piece reflects his interest in the metrics and momentum behind announcements, situating trailers within fan expectations and platform strategies rather than treating them as isolated marketing beats.
Across similar news stories, he reports on studio statements, teaser details and early community reactions, giving readers a concise sense of what has been confirmed, what is implied by tone and structure, and how a project fits into an existing series.
Freelance entertainment work beyond games
Beyond Metro, Starkey works as a freelance entertainment journalist whose professional profiles describe a specialism in games, TV, esports and film and experience across multiple formats including news, features, interviews, guides and reviews. His own site and media databases list his work as having appeared in outlets such as NME, Rolling Stone UK, Radio Times, Edge, Nintendo Life and VG247, indicating a portfolio that spans both dedicated gaming brands and broader entertainment publications. Earlier in his career he held a staff entertainment reporting role at Metro, writing across music, gaming, TV, film and showbiz on tight daily deadlines, which underpins the fast-turnaround, news-led side of his current coverage.
Taken together, these roles show a journalist who is comfortable switching between quick-hit news on reveals or hardware and more reflective criticism, always grounded in how audiences consume games and screen entertainment across platforms.
4 more gaming journalists.
Aaron Astle
Aaron Astle covers the business of mobile games through data, company strategy and cross-platform trends. He is Features and Data Editor at PocketGamer.biz and has written more than 2,000 articles for the publication. His beat includes game performance, revenue, player numbers, market share, monetisation, longevity and location-based games. He covers leadership changes, studio restructures, trade bodies, publishing decisions, investment and platform relations. He also reports on mobile, console and PC compatibility, live operations, regional marketing, hardware and app store rules. His work includes interviews with publishers such as King, Scopely, Cygames, Sybo and Rovio, plus year-in-review features for 2024 and 2025. He combines news, interviews, performance data and product timelines in clear analysis. He also contributes to the Week in Mobile Games podcast and event coverage.
Aaron Down
Aaron Down stands out for practical, systems-aware coverage that helps players navigate complex PC games and the platforms around them. He is a guides writer at PCGamesN and a staff writer at The Loadout. His work covers strategy games, live-service updates, codes, online worlds, simulation and management games, and classic titles being remade. He writes about League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics from long experience with both, with a focus on depth, meta shifts, and long-term mastery. His PCGamesN work includes strategy round-ups, Guild Wars 3 news, and reviews such as Two Point Museum. His writing has also appeared in The Digital Fix, Medium, Newsbreak, Flipboard, and other gaming platforms. He reports in clear, direct language, focusing on verified information, game systems, player access, and how platforms such as Steam shape discovery.
Aaron Potter
Aaron Potter is a franchise-focused games journalist who judges big-budget console and PC releases as parts of longer stories. At the Mirror’s gaming vertical, he writes reviews, release-time explainers, deal guides and commentary across PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo. His beat includes narrative-driven action games, horror, superhero epics, fantasy RPGs, co-op shooters and major series such as Marvel’s Spider-Man, Star Wars Jedi, Resident Evil, Dragon’s Dogma and God of War. He also covers launch times, platforms, Game Pass, crossplay, pre-orders, discounts and AAA ports, helping players decide what to play and how to buy it. With more than eight years in games journalism, prior freelance work and a book on indie games, he compares new releases with their predecessors, weighing storytelling, polish, innovation and value.
Adam Vjestica
Adam Vjestica is a senior editor at The Shortcut who focuses on how gaming hardware and platform decisions shape everyday players’ experience. He covers consoles, handheld PCs and retro systems, with a clear focus on pricing, availability and platform choices. He brings more than a decade of tech and gaming experience, including gaming hardware editing roles and content marketing for a major game company, and runs a retro gaming YouTube channel. His work examines console makers’ decisions on PlayStation and Xbox, resale markets around premium hardware, and how policy changes, prices and content affect the value of owning a console. He also covers PC and handheld devices like Steam Frame, Nintendo hardware and services, retro systems such as NEOGEO AES+, CES announcements and new wearables, combining fast news, pricing and pre-order guides, and opinion-led commentary in plain, detail-driven reporting.