Sam Chandler

Sam Chandler focuses on making complex games approachable through structured guides, interactive maps, and clear explanations of mechanics for players across platforms. He is Head of Guides at Shacknews, overseeing guide coverage while also contributing community columns and news reports across console and PC gaming.

Guides and Interactive Maps

Sam’s core work is building practical guides that help players understand systems, find collectibles, and clear demanding content in modern games. His role at Shacknews is centered on producing clear, step-by-step information that is easy for a wide range of players to use, from newcomers to dedicated fans. He regularly documents in-game items and activities, and writes guides that break down raid encounters and complex mechanics so players can progress without friction. This focus extends into tool-driven coverage, such as his piece on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt interactive maps via Shackmaps, where he ties detailed map data to specific in-game needs and locations.

Even when a guide revolves around a single title, the structure is consistent: explain what the player is trying to do, show where to go, and reduce the time spent searching.

Community Columns: Evening Reading and Weekend Discussion

Alongside guides, Sam curates recurring community-facing features that frame what players are talking about on any given day.

His Evening Reading columns, including editions dated July 6, August 17, and multiple September installments, pull together notable stories, social chatter, and links into a nightly digest for Shacknews readers. Weekend Discussion posts across early September and late July invite readers to weigh in on current games, events, and trends, turning his byline into a hub for conversation rather than one-way reporting.

These columns show a different facet of his work: the emphasis is less on instruction and more on framing topics, giving the community prompts and context so players can discuss and share their own perspectives.

News and Event Coverage

Sam also handles straightforward news stories on major announcements in the games industry, bringing the same concise style he uses in guides to event coverage. His article on Tokyo Game Show 2027 becoming a five-day show distills the schedule change and its implications for attendees and publishers into a direct, readable brief.

In coverage of Nintendo’s business performance, such as the report on 3.82 million Switch 2 consoles sold in Q1 FY27, he focuses on key figures and what they mean for the broader hardware and software ecosystem. The confirmed article on the Invincible VS roadmap, outlining the next three seasons and new features, fits this pattern: he tracks live-service timelines and feature additions so players understand how their games will evolve over time.

Across these pieces, the emphasis is on clarity and relevance rather than speculation.

Opinion on Game Design and Play Experience

Although most of Sam’s output is service journalism, he also writes occasional opinion pieces that draw directly on his experience with games and mechanics. In his article “Wardogs made me realize I wanted base building in my Battlefield,” he uses a specific title to explore how base-building systems could change the feel and strategy of a familiar franchise. The piece connects moment-to-moment gameplay with broader design questions, showing how features from one game might inform expectations for another. Even in opinion work, his focus remains practical: he concentrates on how design choices affect play, what features do for players, and how systems can better serve the audience that his guides already target.