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Zero Punctuation is a Web series of video game reviews created by English comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. From its inception in 2007, episodes were published weekly by internet magazine The Escapist. Episodes typically range from five to six minutes in length. Videos provide caustic humour, rapid-fire delivery, and critical insight into recently released video games, with occasional reviews of older games and retrospectives of the industry itself. In 2023, Zero Punctuation was discontinued following Croshaw's resignation from The Escapist and the formation of Second Wind, with new reviews being published by him in the same format under the rebranded series Fully Ramblomatic.
The name "Zero Punctuation" refers to the speed of Croshaw's narration. Since its creation, the series has become popular in the gaming community. Video game developers and publishers have occasionally acknowledged Croshaw's reviews of their games, and at least one internet meme has resulted from Zero Punctuation. At the end of each year, starting in 2008, Croshaw created special episodes of Zero Punctuation discussing what he believes were the best and worst games of the year. He occasionally dedicated episodes to new technologies or milestones in video gaming, such as E3 and the coming of the eighth generation of consoles. Croshaw also dedicated certain episodes to covering events or periods in gaming history that he considered to have disparaged the industry or its reputation. These include the video game industry crash of 1983, and the controversial Hot Coffee mod for .
From 2009 to 2017, Croshaw authored a column on The Escapist known as Extra Punctuation. These articles were originally published every Tuesday and often supplemented the previous week's review by discussing a certain topic or trend exhibited by that game. Croshaw resumed the series in 2021 in video format.
On November 6, 2023, Croshaw announced he had resigned from The Escapist with other colleagues out of solidarity following the firing of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra that same day. He also confirmed that he did not own the rights to Zero Punctuation, leaving the future of the series in doubt. Two days later, on November 8, Calandra and Croshaw announced that Croshaw would continue making weekly short-form reviews under the title of Fully Ramblomatic. This show is hosted on Second Wind, a new outlet formed by the staff who left The Escapist. The Escapists parent company Gamurs published the final two episodes of Zero Punctuation—reviews of Sonic Superstars and Marvel's Spider-Man 2—on November 21.
Zero Punctuation opens and closes with a Theme music, a rock track composed and performed by Ian Dorsch. The ending credits usually feature humorous notes or other information relating to the review, as well as imagery of characters from the review engaging in slapstick. Prior to mid-2008, Zero Punctuation featured commercial songs at the beginning and end of each episode, which were usually related to the context of, or at odds with the game in question, such as Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" and Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" at the beginning and end, respectively, of his review of .
The series' format has proved inspirational for several other web series, such as the critical and educational series Extra Credits and CGP Grey.
Although Zero Punctuation episodes are usually intended to highlight Croshaw's criticisms of video games, his opinions are not universally negative, and any positive feelings towards the aspects of a game will usually be explicitly stated. During his review of Portal, he admitted to being unable to find any faults with the game. He opened his review of BioShock by saying "nobody likes it when I'm being nice to a game," referring to the negative reception of his favorable review of Psychonauts.
Croshaw cites the work of British television critic and PC Zone journalist Charlie Brooker as the "main inspiration" for his own reviewing style, as well as the writings of Douglas Adams, Sean "Seanbaby" Riley, Victor Lewis-Smith, and Old Man Murray's Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw. He expressed respect towards the late Roger Ebert, noting that he "might one day aspire to being his videogaming equivalent".
In his 2013 lists, he awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award for Total Abhorrence" to , expressing that it was so poor in quality that he hardly considered it a game but rather saw it as "congealed failure."
| +Best Game of the Year !Year !Game !Notes | ||
| 2008 | Saints Row 2 | Given award as "The 'Copulating Jelly Baby' Award for Fucking Sweet Game" |
| 2009 | Given award as "The Golden Dog Biscuit Award for Genuinely Best Game" | |
| 2010 | Just Cause 2 | 9th Best of the 2010s |
| 2011 | Portal 2 | 2nd Best of the 2010s |
| 2012 | 7th Best of the 2010s | |
| 2013 | BioShock Infinite | 8th Best of the 2010s Retroactively replaced by Papers, Please |
| 2014 | 10th Best of the 2010s Retroactively replaced by | |
| 2015 | Undertale | Best Game of the 2010s |
| 2016 | Doom | 4th Best of the 2010s |
| 2017 | 5th Best of the 2010s | |
| 2018 | Return of the Obra Dinn | 3rd Best of the 2010s |
| 2019 | Disco Elysium | 6th Best of the 2010s |
| 2020 | Spiritfarer | |
| 2021 | Psychonauts 2 | |
| 2022 | Neon White | |
| +Worst Game of the Year !Year !Game(s) !Notes | ||
| 2008 | Sonic Unleashed | Given award as "The "Turd in a Turd" Award for Unsurprising Poor Quality" |
| 2009 | Wet | Given award as "The Cement Block On A Racecourse Award for Biggest Non Starter" |
| 2010 | 6th Worst of the 2010s | |
| 2011 | Battlefield 3 and (tie) | 10th Worst of the 2010s |
| 2012 | Amy | 2nd Worst of the 2010s |
| 2013 | 8th Worst of the 2010s | |
| 2014 | Thief | 9th Worst of the 2010s |
| 2015 | 5th Worst of the 2010s | |
| 2016 | 4th Worst of the 2010s | |
| 2017 | Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 | 7th Worst of the 2010s |
| 2018 | Hunt Down the Freeman | Worst Game of the 2010s |
| 2019 | 3rd Worst of the 2010s | |
| 2020 | The Last of Us Part II | |
| 2021 | Balan Wonderworld | |
| 2022 | ||
| +Blandest Game of the Year !Year !Game(s) !Notes | ||
| 2015 | ||
| 2016 | No Man's Sky | |
| 2017 | Star Wars Battlefront II | |
| 2018 | Conan Exiles | |
| 2019 | Anthem | |
| 2020 | Marvel's Avengers | |
| 2021 | ||
| 2022 | Saints Row | |
Croshaw's negative review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008 was poorly received by fans of the game. He claimed to have received a disproportionate amount of hate mail following the review, and dedicated an episode to highlight and respond to various e-mails that he had allegedly received in response to it.
In 2009, Croshaw reviewed Prototype by comparing it to InFamous, attempting to decide which game was better. Unable to determine a victor, he jokingly suggested that the developers of each game send him artwork of the opposing game's main character wearing lingerie in order to claim the award. Radical Entertainment and Sucker Punch – the respective developers – unexpectedly complied with the challenge, prompting Croshaw to declare InFamous the winner after judging the quality of the images.
In 2013, Croshaw came under fire after an episode of Zero Punctuation on Papers, Please contained a metaphor that was viewed as Transphobia. Croshaw agreed with the criticism and apologized, expressing regret towards making the statement. The offending remark was retroactively omitted from the video.
Croshaw was one of the founders of the Mana Bar, a video gaming lounge in Brisbane that operated from 2010 until 2015. Croshaw's popularity through Zero Punctuation has been credited with the initial success of the establishment.
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