John Bain has been known by many names over the years. Titles like Total Hailbut, the Cynical Brit, and TotalBiscuit might rings a few bells. Today on Twitter, Genna Bain, John’s wife, posted on Twitter that the gaming commentator and critic had passed away.
Bain’s unfortunate and untimely death was due to his bowel cancer that he was diagnosed with in 2014. Before his diagnosis, he was posting lets plays, informing gamers of newly released games (whether they be good or bad), talking on podcasts to discuss the gaming community and culture in general, and being one of the biggest advocates for fair use on YouTube during the early days. One of his most well known series, WTF is…, helped gain him the popularity that he was known for. The series helped give exposure to smaller titles that deserved some love, expose game titles for shoddy business practice, or expose games that were so bad that you just had to play. In his last WTF is… video posted in February, he took a look at the indie game, Octogeddon.
Despite the diagnosis, Bain did not let that stop him from continuing to create content. For the next four years after his diagnosis, while also receiving treatment for his illness, he gave his fans the content that they loved, and continued to post cute dogs on his personal Twitter. After receiving treatment for these past years, Bain’s health took a turn for the worst last month when his chemotherapy stopped working.
Despite the odds being slim, Bain was a fighter until the end. Bain made a lengthy post on Reddit talking about his future, and in it, he stated that was retiring as a video game critic because he felt it “[didn’t] make any sense to continue to try to do that job in [his] state and while it used to bring [him] a lot of satisfaction, now it’s just the opposite.” He still hosted his podcast, The Co-optional Podcast, and appeared on it up until the videos stopped coming out three weeks ago. The podcast went live one more time before Bain’s passing on May 22, but TotalBiscuit was not present. There are plans to continue the podcast with his wife taking the driver’s seat. Despite this, the gaming world will not be the same without the Cynical Brit.
John Bain is survived by his Wife, Genna Bain, and his son, Orion Bain.