The notion of ‘critical’ digital game-based language learning and teaching (DGBLLT) can refer to several different, but related concepts. They all have in common the premise that facets of DGBLLT are intertwined with critical issues pertaining to existing norms regarding political, social, economic and cultural conditions, expectations regarding games as texts, ideas about language and the role of games in society. This contribution will briefly introduce the notion of criticality, drawing from foundational critical theory and critical digital literacies. These touch on, amongst other things, the nature of games as technologies with implications for player agency in light of particular forms of capital. With this basis, the entry then goes on to examine how these notions of criticality apply to DGBLLT in terms of products, practices and presumptions regarding gaming.