Farouk Kannout is a:

Writer
Game Developer
and more...

A digital garden of my best efforts.


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Farouk Kannout is an Arab-American freelance writer and cultural critic based in Chicago. He loves writing about film, television, video games, and how we make meaning from culture broadly.

His work has appeared in A.V. Club, Inverse, and Unwinnable, among others. In 2025, Farouk received special recognition as a "Writer to watch" from the Chicago Film Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes Emerging Critics Program.

In addition to being a writer, Farouk is a creative producer and award-winning game developer at the independent video game studio Play Underground Games! (PUG!), which he co-founded with a number of his closest friends. Together, they are currently developing a number of unannounced projects.
Contact:


Play Underground Games!
About

Play Underground Games (PUG!) originally started as a multimedia web magazine called "Play Underground! Magazine," which was co-founded by Farouk and his friends, and focused on video games and pop culture. From 2017-2021, Farouk was a writer and editor for the magazine, writing a monthly film review column as well as essays on video games. Additionally, he was one of the hosts of the PUG! podcast, a fireside chat where he and his co-hosts would discuss the latest happenings in culture that were on their minds.

After retiring the webzine, many of the same founding members returned to transform PUG! into an independent game studio in September 2023, and are currently in the middle of game development on a number of unannounced projects. Farouk works as a narrative designer and creative producer, handling story development, marketing, and production on PUG!'s various projects.

Awards



In February 2024, PUG! won the Ubisoft Indie Series grand prize from Ubisoft Toronto, receiving funding and recognition for their debut project (currently unannounced).