John Peter Bain
July 8, 1984 – May 24, 2018 pic.twitter.com/XchUMNDYXC

— TotalBiscuit. (@Totalbiscuit) 24 May 2018

John “TotalBiscuit” Bain has passed away age just 33 following a long battle with cancer. The news hit last night, just a month after he announced on Reddit that he was stepping down as a games critic and that all treatment options had finally been exhausted. He wrote that he knew his time was coming, but I don’t think anyone thought it would be this fast.

I can’t imagine what his wife is currently going through. All I can do is offer my sincerest condolences for the passing of someone who I had the utmost respect for. TotalBiscuit, also known as the Cynical Brit, was a tremendous influence on me, the way I tackle reviews and indeed for the formation of this site. I can’t even begin to count the hours I’ve spent listening to his voice as he breaks down triple-A titles and indie games alike in the WTF Is series, and the way he broke everything down was instrumental in the formation of my own written work.

He was at times a controversial man, largely because he was never afraid to voice his opinions, defend them and call out stupidity. Like all humans he said and did some things he probably shouldn’t have, but those were small blemishes in an otherwise amazing career that earned him over 2-million subscribers on Youtube and considerable influence in the game industry. His voice carried weight.

There’s very little else to say about the man. I didn’t know him personally, and won’t pretend to. But after so many hours of watching and listening to his content it’s hard not to form a strange connection, and his presence will be missed now more than ever. The world has lost one of its strongest voices for videogames, and a good man. But I am glad that his channel and much of his work will live on in his wife who seems to be planning on taking over in his honor. Genna Bain, may you reign supreme.

I eagerly await TotalBiscuits “WTF is…Heaven”, where he exclaims the virtues of the graphics but rightly points out that the respawn system needs some work. It’s going to be a hell of a video.

Rest in peace.