Does Naz still work here? He was the reason I gradually phased myself out in 2013/2014. I loved doing the reviews (Even when people argued over the score), but Naz just made the place feel like a hostile work environment and just made every interaction with him feel like an anxiety-inducing nightmare.

I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I'm considering reapplying - as I said I did really enjoy the work and the opportunities - but I'm really not sure if I'm welcome given my...stubborn nature and tendency to be controversial in a few key topics/areas. 

Don't worry if you're welcome or not, pursue it if you desire.  There are always going to be haters, just ignore them, variety is a good thing.

sounds interesting!! I get positive comments on my writing a lot, who knows, maybe I'll give it a go if I have the time

Oh, I never had any sort of problem with the copy and content edits. it's a great way to ensure a balance between personal opinions and not going off the deep end on random tangents. My controversy was always with actively arguing with people who got pissy at me for giving Dead Space III a  5.4 or Final Fantasy XIII-2 a 5.2, even though now that we look back those were horribly contentious games and my reviews weren't as outlandish as people thought. 

And Politics here on the forum. 

The actual reviews were never a problem. And I won't be reviewing Xbox games since I lack an Xbox Series X, so that won't be an issue (I'm famously critical of Xbox). so yeah, I genuinely doubt it'll be a problem if I do reapply. I've matured a lot and been more thoroughly exposed to the internet since I last reviewed for the site so I have fewer scruples concerning random internet people bitching at me about my scores. I'd have no issues being professional now that I write for a living and am more accustomed to having some occasionally hilariously bad feedback from certain groups. 

I'd like to reapply, but only if you genuinely think I'd be a productive member of the team. Like I said, I write for a living as it is and do occasionally still do game reviews and I have a PS5 as well as a Switch (and despite being critical of them I am genuinely excited for the future of Xbox so I'll be getting one of those about halfway through the generation, to). But I'm not going to bother if nobody wants me around, which I'd totally understand given my past history. 

What's your discord so we can chat in private? 

I appreciate the encouragement, but it goes a bit deeper. I actually did review for the site between 2011 and 2013/2014, there was some friction between me and a handful of people who didn't like some of my low-scoring reviews, and I argued a lot. I love doing game review and I write for a living now (fantasy erotica, if you're curious), so I'm more mature in terms of people criticising my work, but I do still tend to have somewhat outlandish views on a handful of games. 

Oh, and I STILL get review codes offered to me via my email somehow. I think they failed to cut off my VGC email address, so all the automatically-generated emails out to press got sent to it and forwarded to my Gmail account. fun stuff. 

It seems like the problem isn't one concerning the editorial process, but one of negative feedback, my answer to that is reviewers must have faith in there reviews but also be open to criticism a thick skin helps and realise that sometimes restraining ones self from answering every negative post is for the best, this is where the more mature Runa216 comes in, I would also like to offer another suggestion that is if you feel your review lets say by way of a much lower score than the norm has become extremely contentious, by all means continue but let the team know that if that occurs, you are open to a counter point being included but the review stands.

Machina it maybe an idea to solicit new writers by PMing those members who may not have put themselves forward but whose posting/ writing you like it may bring in one or two extra.

A while back I made some Spanish reviews. Could I translate/adapt them to fulfill the sample request?

Absolutely. As long as it's in English, you can definitely use an older review as your sample.

Submitted one. Sometimes my emails dont go through so just wanted to send here to clarify