To celebrate our second anniversary, we decided to shake things up a bit. It’s taken an immense amount of time and effort, but welcome to Aftermath version 2.0.
The first thing you’ll notice about the site is a new, streamlined design. This is because, like our friends at 404 and Hell Gate, we’re now posting on Ghost. As far as the site’s look and feel go, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, so the new front page remains clean as can be, with a focus on spotlighting big stories and guiding you to a chronological feed of everything else. Thanks to our vast wealth of experience as regular people navigating the internet, we’re well aware that throwing a bunch of modules, widgets, and popups in people’s faces only serves to annoy the shit out of them. Considering the state of many other sites, this might sound like a crazy idea, but we want reading Aftermath to be pleasant; everything else is secondary.
Now for quality of life features: Effective immediately, you can pay for an Aftermath subscription using credit card, Link, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Especially as a site with an international readership, we’ve heard from many who would’ve loved to support us via our preexisting options but couldn’t, so hopefully this brings down the barrier to entry. We’re still discussing other options to add, so let us know if there’s something you’d like to see and we’ll look into it.
Additionally, log-in is more straightforward; the new site does away with passwords and gives you the option of magic link or a one-time code. And managing your subscription, preferences, and commenting options are all in one place. The new site should be generally easier to use, but if for some reason it’s not, please let us know!
Speaking of, our subscription tiers are changing slightly — for the better, we think. Now subscribers of ALL paying tiers can comment on articles, which we think will make for livelier discussions. And while $10 Member-tier subs and up continue to enjoy access to our Discord — which rules and is one of the few places on the internet where you can talk about games with normal people — we’re now offering them two new perks: a full-text RSS feed of all our stories and discounts at our merch store.
Anyway, those are the basics. Feel free to stick around for a bit and kick the tires, or just jump straight to telling us why you liked the old layout better. Regardless, thank you to everyone who has supported us and made this all possible, whether you’ve been chatting away in our Discord since day one, quietly reading our stories and newsletters whenever they land in your inbox, or are only hearing about us today but find yourself so intrigued by Riley’s lore and Chris’ hyperfixations that you’re considering subscribing.
If the latter, you couldn’t have picked a better time: For the next 30 days, Aftermath subscriptions for new readers are on sale at $1 for your first month. That’s basically no money, an almost inconceivable discount in this era of tariffs, enshittification, and rot economies. Game Pass we are not; we want to bring people in, not suck them dry. So if you’ve spent this year unsubscribing from services or toasters or whatever because they became too expensive, take a chance on us – or, failing that, the idea of independent media in general.
This really is a crucial time for publications like ours. One after another, mainstream news sources – even unlikely hero of our times Teen Vogue – are having their independence constrained by feckless overlords. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch, meanwhile, have taken to amplifying mass psychosis, with AI further coaxing people’s already putty-soft brains into the blender. Now is the time to build a robust alternative information infrastructure, because at the rate things are going, we simply won’t get another chance.
Here are some of the stories we’ve published during Aftermath’s first two years that we’re proudest of, to give you a preview of what you’ll be supporting:
Trying To Get A Job In Video Games Right Now Is Like Crawling Through Hell
The Right’s Charlie Kirk Cancellation Spree Has Emboldened Gaming’s Worst
For The Love of God, Make Your Own Website
The Summer (Game Fest) Before The Fall (Of America)
With A Boat And Some Help, You Can Read Moby Dick In A Day
Games Media Can’t Ignore BDS Xbox Boycott
The Politics, Theology, And Hype Behind The First Gamer Saint
We Solved The Five-Year Mystery Of Who Owns Summergamesfest.com
OK, But Who Is Inverting Their Horizontal Controls?
Parrying Is The Best Thing In Video Games
Parrying Is The Worst Thing In Video Games
And here are our goals for the future, which you can help us achieve by subscribing. The short version? More writers, more travel and other ambitious forms of reporting, and more people to help us handle specialized tasks like business, video, social media, and promotion. Beyond that, we’d love to elevate new voices and give emerging writers opportunities that aren’t horrifically exploitative. We want to grow Aftermath not into a megaconglomerate – down that path lies only ethical compromise and abdication of responsibility to readers – but into something sustainable, that can fight the good fight for as long as it’s needed.
If you’ve got the means, we hope you’ll consider lending your support. If not, there’s still our free newsletter, weekly free stories, and free podcasts. In either case, we’re massively appreciative, and we’re thrilled to keep doing this for another year – and also hopefully forever.
