Julian Rizzo-Smith

Julian Rizzo-Smith is a Sydney-based multimedia journalist reporting on tech, games and entertainment. 

Junkee •

'Boyfriend Dungeon' Is The Dating Game That Lets You Have Sex With Your Sword

Boyfriend Dungeon is a dungeon crawler dating simulator video game that lets you fuck the very weapons you find and equip. That’s right, currently, in the magically marvellous world of dating sims, you can smooch neighbourhood dads, pigeons in high school and monsters at prom, but now, as Junkee learned playing the game at E3, you can romance your sharp pointy blades, too. Finally, a game that truly lets me be horny on main.
Junkee •

Meet The Young Aussie Behind The Most Beautiful Game Of E3

In 2016, 16-year-old Melbournite Anthony Tan began work on his “deer game”, sharing screenshots to Reddit. In 2019, Way To The Woods was shown at E3 alongside the biggest gaming franchises in the world. How was Tan to know that screenshots of his little game would explode in the Gaming subreddit? That they would be discovered by Hello Games’ Sean Murray (No Man’s Sky)? “People really, really liked it, and I was like, ‘Oh. Oh, I have to do this now,’” Tan told Junkee of the initial Reddit b
Junkee •

'Link's Awakening' Is Officially The Weirdest Game In 'The Legend Of Zelda' Series

At E3 2019, we had the chance to play Nintendo’s remake of Link’s Awakening, reconfirming that this is absolutely the weirdest game in The Legend of Zelda series. Stranger than Link gaining a fursona. An end of days 72-hour time loop of the moon crashing into the planet? More bizarre than that. Even every single thing Tingle has done on this plane of existence has nothing on this. An Adorable Diorama World Of Wonder And Weird After being shipwrecked on a seemingly inescapable tropical island,
Junkee •

We Played 'Pokemon Sword And Shield's Water Gym And Walked Away Thirsty For More

At E3 2019, we got hands-on time with Pokemon Sword and Shield’s water gym and the new ability that lets you supersize your Pokepals. Why Is Every Gym Leader In Sword and Shield So Hot? We’ve met two of the Great Britain inspired Galar region’s gym leaders: Milo, the grass gym leader plant daddy twunk that can sprout his seed in me, and Nessa, the competitive swimwear-wearing water gym leader that can literally drown me. Set in Sword and Shield’s water gym, Junkee’s demo had me facing off aga
Junkee •

Keanu Reeves, Chaos, And Unsubtle Transphobia: We Spoke To the Creators Of 'Cyberpunk 2077'

At last year’s E3, CD Projekt Red described its next open-world role-playing game CyberPunk 2077 as an “epic, mature RPG.” Shortly after, media were shown an espionage rescue mission, infamously showing an excessive amount of gratuitous female nudity. But that’s all fine now, right? It’s got Keanu Reeves! Sadly, no amount of John Wick or satisfying gameplay can ignore that CyberPunk 2077‘s world has some problems.
Junkee •

The Answers To All Your Burning 'Marvel's Avengers' Questions

Announced at Square Enix’s E3 2019 press conference, Marvel’s Avengers is a cinematic action-adventure game about our favourite caped, spandex and iron-cladded crusaders. Separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Cap and co are played by an all-star cast of voice actors instead of Hollywood’s goodest golden boy and friends – and their faces look like butts. Developed by the Tomb Raider reboot’s Crystal Dynamics and assisted by Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s Eidos Montreal, the core concept of th
Junkee •

'The Red Strings Club' Shows The Harsh Reality Of A Cyberpunk Future

The Red Strings Club is a low-fi pixel art cyberpunk player adventure game that takes everyday activities you’ve never really seen in a game before and turns them into fascinating mechanics for persuasion. It features a sexually-diverse and celebrated world, takes philosophical stances on dystopian futures and questions ideas about ownership, the ethics of capitalism and our dependent relationship with technology and our emotions, but it all turns a bit south in the game’s final act.
Junkee •

From 'Drag Race' To Overlooked Rapper: Why Aja Is Struggling To Find Their Flow

Aja finds themselves stuck between a drag persona they want to leave behind, and a rap career they can't seem to get started. Best known internationally as the fiery and iconically memeable RuPaul’s Drag Race and All Stars contestant — who famously called out Valentina on Untucked for “Looking like Linda Evangelista” — Brooklyn’s Aja has cultivated one of the most unique brands to come out of the show. Since All Stars 3 aired last year, they’ve eschewed the drag stardom they initially chased a
Junkee •

Cosplay, Moogles And Making History: Experiencing The ‘Final Fantasy’ Mardi Gras Float

Marching in the Final Fantasy x Sydney Gaymers float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras felt like I was helping make history. For the first time in 40 years, a video game is sponsoring a float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. For the first time ever, us members of the community-run group Sydney Gaymers don’t have to wheel wooden blocks on shaky flatbeds down the parade as they’re falling apart and giving them splinters. For the first time ever, I felt represented and part of a co
Load More Articles