Rock Paper Shotgun Features Feed

enTue, 31 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000The RPS Selection Box: Ed's bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-eds-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Ed ThornTue, 31 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-eds-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024FantasyExplorationMultiplayer CooperativeOpen WorldShin chan: Shiro And The Coal TownChristmasRPS Selection BoxKids & FamilySingle PlayerRoguelikePCMotion TwinNintendo SwitchLife SimulationAnimeNeos CorporationAction AdventureBird view / IsometricHack & Slashh.a.n.d.WindblownIndie

Unlike a lot of the team I'd imagine, my opinion is this: I thought the year was quite middling for games. Or at least, it was middling for my own personal taste, which is quite unsavoury at the best of times. Most of my best picks made it into the calendar proper, but a couple didn't. One I hadn't even played properly until after the vote, and the other? The other is a flawed pick, but one that I couldn't stop thinking about.

Anyway, hope you all have a restful Xmas folks and a cracking new year. I hope Santa bought you some nice warm socks or a chocolate orange so dense, you could tee it off at your local golf club.

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The ninth RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-ninth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSTue, 31 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-ninth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What game does Geoff Keighley play now that E3 is gone forever?

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The RPS Selection Box: Ollie's bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-ollies-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Ollie TomsMon, 30 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-ollies-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024PS2Solium InfernumSocialFantasySimulationLeague of GeeksExplorationMultiplayer CooperativeOpen WorldChristmasKeen GamesNovaLogicRPS Selection BoxRealismSingle PlayerSandboxPCShooterThird personFightingRPGFull productDelta ForceRPG: ActionAction AdventureEnshroudedFirst personSurvival & CraftingMultiplayer CompetitiveIndieStrategy

I'm quite proud of the delights that we packed behind each door of the Advent Calendar this year, to be honest. All my major choices are in there, plus a few more that I haven't played but I'd watched other people play, and had a swell time doing so. Still, there are always a handful that don't quite make the cut, but still deserve a heaped Christmas plateful of praise at year's end. So here's my selection box, my bonus games of the year for 2024. It's an unusually diverse triad this time.

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The eighth RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-eighth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSMon, 30 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-eighth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What game released this year is set entirely within a jar of anti-ageing cream?

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What's on your bookshelf?: Time has no bearing here as we enter the space between the clock hands editionhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-time-has-no-bearing-here-as-we-enter-the-space-between-the-clock-hands-editionNic ReubenMon, 30 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-time-has-no-bearing-here-as-we-enter-the-space-between-the-clock-hands-editionBooked For The Week

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome to The Space Between The Days. Missed the streak? Missed it? Missed the weekly Sunday column? Missed my deadline because I bought a new matress yesterday and spent most of the day lounging, limbs akimbo like a petulant starfish making noises no starfish has or will ever make? Missed the streak? You are simply wrong. Time has no bearing here. Here is the column. I've been reading Mark Forsyth's books on words and this very good New Yorker column about Kanye West smashing up an architectural masterpiece.

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The RPS Selection Box: James’ bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-james-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024James ArcherSun, 29 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-james-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024SimulationShooter: First PersonWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2ExplorationOpen WorldRPS Selection BoxPS5Single PlayerLittle Kitty, Big CityPlatformerXbox Series X/SFocus Home InteractivePCThird personFocus EntertainmentEcho Point NovaScience FictionSaber InteractiveAction AdventureShooterIndie

I’m actually quite happy with how many of my voted games made it into this year’s Advent Calendar, not least because it proves I am acutely in-touch, and definitely didn’t dedicate at least fifty percent of my 2024 playing time to a late-onset Elden Ring obsession. Point being, I can present to you my almost-made-it picks without malice nor bitterness, unlike my loser colleagues who didn’t get as many in the main list. Nyeh nyeh.

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The seventh RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-seventh-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSSun, 29 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-seventh-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: I want to role play as a singing gastropod! What game should I play?

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The RPS Selection Box: Brendan's bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-brendans-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Brendan CaldwellSat, 28 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-brendans-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024SteamWorld Heist 2Still Wakes The DeepNarrative / Story DrivenDragon's Dogma 2FantasyStealthThunderfulShooter: First PersonExplorationChristmasRPS Selection BoxPuzzleHorrorPS5BlockbusterDreadXPSingle PlayerStrategy: Turn-Based StrategyXbox Series X/SMachineGamesPCCapcomStory RichThird personLovely HellplaceThe Chinese RoomIndiana Jones and the Great CircleRPGNintendo SwitchBethesda Game StudiosScience FictionDread DelusionAction AdventureFirst personSecret ModeBethesda SoftworksIndie

I'm a sucker for a good first-person runabout. I don't need to shoot, but it's sometimes nice to get a sword, or a big whip. As long as I get to be immersed in an adventure. I think that's the big theme of my selection box: being grounded within my player character. I want to feel what it's like to hike through canyons with too much sellable loot in my backpack. I want to park my soul in the head of a scared Scotsman way out of his depth, hundreds of miles from shore. The closer I can comfortably fit in my character's shoes, the more I seem to buy into the world they inhabit. Even if that world is constantly glowing a magnificent crimson.

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The sixth RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sixth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSSat, 28 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sixth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What's the best news you can hear after a trip to the vet?

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The RPS Selection Box: Nic’s bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-nics-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Nic ReubenFri, 27 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-nics-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Remedy EntertainmentMultiplayer CooperativeChristmasRPS Selection BoxHorrorPS5Single PlayerXbox Series X/SAlan Wake 2PCThird personEpic GamesStrategy: Real-Time StrategyRPGFinal Fantasy VII RebirthTotal War: Warhammer IIIMysterySquare EnixThe Creative AssemblyAction AdventureBird view / IsometricSegaShooterMultiplayer CompetitiveStrategy

If pushed, I’d describe my 2024 gaming habits as eclectic, but that would actually be a lie. All my favourite games for the year are actually very similar: they are all the best. Unfortunately, the realities of sharing website space with several less-correctos means they didn’t all make this year’s advent calender.

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The fifth RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-fifth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSFri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-fifth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What d'you call a pair of komodo dragons making a sand castle?

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The RPS Selection Box: Jeremy's bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-jeremys-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Jeremy BlumThu, 26 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-jeremys-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Dragon's Dogma 2FantasyChristmasRPS Selection BoxPuzzleSide viewHorrorPS5Single PlayerXbox Series X/SPostmodern AdventuresPCCapcomThird personponcleArcadeRPGPoint and ClickMysteryAction AdventureBird view / IsometricHistoricalVampire SurvivorsAn English HauntingIndie

2024 was my first full year at RPS, and as a guides writer, it was a year packed with the sort of games that make you roll your sleeves up, wipe sweat from your brow, and stare up at the sky from the trenches, ruminating on what life is like when you aren't dealing with back-to-back Soulslikes interspersed with gacha games that feature incomprehensible lootbox mechanics.

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The fourth RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-fourth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSThu, 26 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-fourth-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: Why was the grave robber disappointed when he broke into Ubisoft's tomb?

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The RPS Selection Box: Edwin's bonus games of the year 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-edwins-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024Edwin Evans-ThirlwellWed, 25 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-edwins-bonus-games-of-the-year-2024To The StarsFantasyStealthOpen WorldChristmasIsles of Sea and SkyRPS Selection BoxPuzzleHorrorSingle PlayerPCStory RichMetroidvaniaNintendo SwitchScience FictionRPG: ActionWithering RoomsAction AdventureBird view / IsometricIndieStrategy

My selection box isn't really a selection box. It's a tray of barely-nibbled leftovers, hastily lifted from my Steam backlog. One of the disadvantages of being news editor, you see, is that I have developed a goldfish-grade attention span. In my hectic pursuit of the next scoop, or the next Elden Ring update changelog, I snatch and cast aside game demos like a pickpocket speedrunning the checkout line at Harvey Nichols. I'm dimly aware that some of these cast-aside games are Very Good. A few might even deserve to be played for longer than 30 minutes. I feel immensely guilty about that. Perhaps a little... existential, too. I have measured out my life in tutorial levels.

So! Rather than digging out three of the games I've actually completed this year, such as The Crush House, Death Of A Wish and Mask Quest, I'm going to gamble on recommending a few I've barely scratched, but which sure feel excellent and have attracted a positive critical consensus. If I am false in this assessment, may Horace the Endless Bear bite my head off for my impudence. Let's begin.

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The third RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-third-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSWed, 25 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-third-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: What's an etiquette teacher's favourite medieval sim?

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 24thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-24thRPSTue, 24 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-24thHorrorSingle PlayerMouthwashingAction AdventureThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personIndiePC

Here we are, the final voyage of 2024. This is the last advent calendar entry of PC gaming website Rock Paper Shotgun. Days elapsed: 24. Writers employed: 8.

I hope this hurts.

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The second RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-second-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSTue, 24 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-second-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: How can you tell a soulslike fan has fallen in love with a giant ape?

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 23rdhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-23rdRPSMon, 23 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-23rdThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024PS5Black Myth: WukongPC

An ancient tale, often re-told - and that's just the story of the development studio that made it.

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The first RPS Christmas Cracker 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-first-rps-christmas-cracker-2024RPSMon, 23 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-first-rps-christmas-cracker-2024IndieBlockbusterChristmas

The fell moons rise, and in their cold glare emerges a parcel from the dirt. Bloat and gangrene, crimped as if by tourniquet. A dark promise wriggles within. Grip the fibrous handles, feel its jagged soul imprint upon your palm. Now pull! Rend the sinew, tear muscle from bone, hatch their fetid gift! The yoke draws near! Take up the slip and read the words upon its face.

Time to enjoy your lovely joke!

Q: Why do oil rig workers only drink sparkling water?

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What's on your bookshelf?: I am 90% yule log but I need to keep up the streak editionhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-i-am-90-yule-log-but-i-need-to-keep-up-the-streak-editionNic ReubenSun, 22 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-i-am-90-yule-log-but-i-need-to-keep-up-the-streak-editionBooked For The WeekThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 22ndhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-22ndRPSSun, 22 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-22ndFireshine GamesPuzzleSingle PlayerAction AdventureRPGShadows of DoubtThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personMultiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

It was a rainy day when she walked into my office, hard rain, like stray stones from a truck on the highway hitting your car bonnet. I lit my cyber-cigarette and put my feet on my desk, I don't know why, I thought it would make me look nonchalant to this strange woman. She wasn't impressed. "Detective," she said, glaring at me with eyes like gorgeous tennis balls, "I want to open today's advent calendar door." I was confused. "Whaddya wanna do that for, missy?" She sat back, relaxed, and pulled a gun from her purse. "I need to stuff a body into it."

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 21sthttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-21stRPSSat, 21 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-21stParadox InteractiveSingle PlayerSimulationBird view / IsometricCrusader Kings IIIRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024TextMultiplayer CompetitiveStrategy

There's a slight breeze and a comforting glow coming from the crack's in today's calendar door, the sound of merriment and many accents from all over the world. Better join in the campfire revelry, because whoever's there won't be staying for long.

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What are we all playing this holiday?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-holiday-4Edwin Evans-ThirlwellSat, 21 Dec 2024 08:04:15 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-holiday-4Playing This Weekend

Happy weekend all. Due to the intervention of Dark Powers and also, half the Treehouse already being on holiday, we neglected to do a round-up of staff Xmas plays before signing off for the year. Well, I’m pretty sure nobody did one. I can’t see anything scheduled in the RPS Post-A-Tron, but the RPS Post-A-Tron is an unreliable beast, full of malice and deceit. If I publish this and it turns out we have two, please divide into rival factions and have a comments war over which is the real one. Apologies! Normal service will resume next year.

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Should you bother with... mini PCs?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/should-you-bother-with-mini-pcsJames ArcherFri, 20 Dec 2024 16:46:50 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/should-you-bother-with-mini-pcsShould You Bother WithMini PCsHardware

I’m hoping you’ll forgive a spot of mission-bending here, given Should You Bother With? Is usually intended to test out the new and the strange of gaming hardware. Instead, I want to talk about mini PCs – not just small-form-factor desktops, but properly tiny, box o’ chocolates-sized computers – which have, of course, been around for decades.

Recently, however, I’ve been wondering if mini PCs are finally on the cusp of having their moment as serious games machines. Between rising desktop component prices and ever-ballooning electricity bills, it would make sense that a smaller, cheaper system would take on a new appeal, and the success of handhelds like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally show that convenience still trumps out-and-out performance for a lot of PC players. There have even been hints that Valve are resurrecting their Steam Machine mini PC concept, years after a flopping first attempt. Should you be interested?

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Rally Point: Oh phew, Songs of Silence is only pretending to be a card gamehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rally-point-oh-phew-songs-of-silence-is-only-pretending-to-be-a-card-gameSin VegaFri, 20 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rally-point-oh-phew-songs-of-silence-is-only-pretending-to-be-a-card-gameSingle PlayerH2 InteractiveStrategy: Turn-Based StrategyStrategyChimera EntertainmentSongs of SilenceRPGMultiplayer CompetitiveThe Rally PointPC

Clambering deep out of the Contemplation Pit, where reading reviews or opinions or, god help you, Takes, is forbidden, I am curious to learn how people have been categorising Songs of Silence. Its structure most resembles Songs of Conquest or Heroes of Might and/or Magic, but with little RPG emphasis or base building, and minimal tactical fighting.

Taxonomy is arbitrary and often unimportant at the end of the day, but I am very glad to firmly rule it out of one category: It's not a bloody card game. It looks like one, sure. You do most things with cards, and characters acquire more cards over time. But even if you absolutely, utterly, and correctly loathe card-based systems, this game has none.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator and the quest to replace Earthhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-and-the-quest-to-replace-earthEdwin Evans-ThirlwellFri, 20 Dec 2024 15:16:25 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-and-the-quest-to-replace-earthSingle PlayerThird personMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024SimulationAsobo StudioMicrosoft Flight SimulatorXbox Game StudiosFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

Early on in Terry Pratchett's novel The Light Fantastic, a spell is cast to map the world. It begins as a "fireball of occult potentiality," dangling in the Great Hall of the Unseen University, which evolves into a ghostly "embryo universe." The embryo expands "lightly as a thought," with spectral continents "sleeting" through walls and people. It surges across the landscape until the entire population and geography of the Disc is exactly duplicated and enclosed by a shimmering shadow-self of "shining threads that followed every movement."

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 20thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-20thRPSFri, 20 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-20thSingle PlayerThird personAction AdventureHack & SlashSegaRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Ahhh, the lap of the ocean is calming isn't it? And it's really warm here, too. What's interesting is that the sounds of the sea are occasionally masked by the sounds of multiple segways. Weird.

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Here are 5 snowy games you can get for cheap in the Winter Steam salehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/steam-winter-sale-2024-the-cheapest-snowy-gamesBrendan CaldwellFri, 20 Dec 2024 11:54:48 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/steam-winter-sale-2024-the-cheapest-snowy-gamesSimulationUbisoft AnnecyMultiplayer CooperativeLife is Strange: Double ExposureArctic EggsPS5PS4SteepXbox OneSingle PlayerUbisoftXbox Series X/SPCValveStory RichThird personFocus EntertainmentArcadeSnowRunnerNintendo SwitchSubnautica: Below ZeroSportsSaber InteractiveUnknown WorldsAction AdventureSurvival & CraftingRacingFirst personComedyMultiplayer CompetitiveIndie

Steam sales aren't the drop-everything-and-grab-yer-wallet events they used to be, according to you lot. The Winter sale that began yesterday is almost identical to the Autumn sale that ended just two weeks ago, for example. But you can still find one or two gifts if you bore deep enough into the ice. Me? I'm only interested in one thing. How many of these games are snowy and chilly enough to induce wonderful hypothermia? I'm on a frostbitten quest to find out. Here are the most winter-iest games you can pick up for cheap.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 19thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-19thRPSThu, 19 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-19thThresholdThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024IndiePC

Huh, it's a little hard to breathe today, don't you think? Like the air's a bit thin. Anyway, I have a job I need to get to and there's this guy who's going to mentor me on my first day. A guy called Mo, who seems nice but isn't particularly talkative. Prefers paper and pencil.

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The Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, part four: the last bitehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-four-the-last-biteJames ArcherWed, 18 Dec 2024 16:59:15 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-four-the-last-biteShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldThe Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2Action AdventureDiaryRPGFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

They say hope is the first step on the road to disappointment, and reader, I’ve made a pretty damn big step. Previously, on my mission to survive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl with only wild mutants as my weapons, I’d discovered clues that someone else was attempting to tame the Zone’s beastly inhabitants. With one of their electronic tracking collars in hand and absolutely no preexisting knowledge of their location, I set out to find this kindred spirit, only for the Zone to once again slam a door in my face.

A cold, steel, very literal door to boot. It turns out that the scientist’s laboratory is locked up tight, and will remain so until I delve about twenty hours deeper into the faction war that’s bubbled up while I’ve been running around throwing irradiated rats at people in tracksuits. Fine. Fine! But I’m keeping the collar.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 18thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-18thRPSWed, 18 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-18thFantasySimulationMultiplayer CooperativeOpen WorldXbox OnePS5PS4Single PlayerXbox Series X/SFromSoftwareFirst personPCBandai Namco EntertainmentThird personRPGElden RingAction AdventureThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024ShooterSurvival & CraftingMultiplayer CompetitiveIndie

Today's Advent Calendar might take you quite some time to polish off. It's ridiculously dense, darkly majestic, and popular among masochists. Come then, touch the withered arm and be transported behind door number 18...

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 17thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-17thRPSTue, 17 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-17thShooterSingle PlayerSimulationAction AdventureMultiplayer CooperativeRPGAbiotic FactorThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personSurvival & CraftingMultiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

Uh, it's probably not a problem - probably - but I'm seeing a small discrepancy in today's advent calendar and... no, never mind... it's well within acceptable bounds. Go ahead, open the door.

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Playing Wreckfest while learning to drive was surprisingly helpfulhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/playing-wreckfest-while-learning-to-drive-was-surprisingly-helpfulBrendan CaldwellMon, 16 Dec 2024 13:28:21 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/playing-wreckfest-while-learning-to-drive-was-surprisingly-helpfulXbox OnePS4SportsSingle PlayerThird personWreckfestSimulationRacing ArcadeSide viewBugbear EntertainmentBird view / IsometricRacingNintendo SwitchTHQ NordicFirst personMultiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

At 9 years old, in the plastic seats of a Sega Rally arcade machine, I quickly learned that "automatic" is better than "manual" without understanding why. And now I know: changing gears is a fucking chore. This year, in my mid-thirties, I finally learned to drive. And weirdly, a racing game about destroying clapped-out old bangers helped me along. Thank you Wreckfest, for all the bottled road rage you allowed me to unleash.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 16thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-16thRPSMon, 16 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-16thPS5PS4SonyHorizon Forbidden WestSingle PlayerThird personGuerrilla GamesAction AdventureRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Nixxes Software B.V.PC

Today’s door has a big DO NOT ENTER sign, suggesting your immediate opening of it was in fact prohibited. Banned. Taboo, even. Yet it’s hard to see why, as it swings open to reveal a spectacular sunset view, interrupted only by the roar of a mechanical woolly mammoth.

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What's on your bookshelf?: I am going to sleep for several weeks editionhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-i-am-going-to-sleep-for-several-weeks-editionNic ReubenSun, 15 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-i-am-going-to-sleep-for-several-weeks-editionBooked For The Week

Can one sleep on a bookshelf? I'm going to find out. See you in the new year. Or, probably next Sunday with another minimum effort column entry. Book for now!

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 15thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-15thRPSSun, 15 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-15thShooterStraftatShooter: First PersonLemaitre BrosThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personMultiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

Today’s advent calendar window is a window upon Xmas past. It returns us to the days of LAN parties and dial-up, of demo discs and Fileplanet – a more innocent era, before multiplayer shooters fell under the spell of progression. Not that innocent, maybe. There were plenty of arseholes back then. Some of them now run very large software companies. But at least there was no grinding to ruin your bunnyhopping.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 14thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-14thRPSSat, 14 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-14thPS5PuzzleSingle PlayerMetroidvaniaSide viewPlatformerThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Nintendo SwitchAnimal WellShared MemoryBigmodeIndiePC

Squeezing through the advent calendar window into a sodden glade of flower and coral, you spy a curious organism on a ledge in the shadows. It’s a video game of some description, though it looks like a squirrel, with frantic white eyes. What’s it doing? Ah, whoops, you’ve startled it. Better follow it offscreen.

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-313Ollie TomsSat, 14 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-313Playing This Weekend

Most of the population of the RPS treehouse is currently hanging limply off various branches after the ordeal that was "staying up until 6am to cover everything announced at The Game Awards. So let's keep this brief, and no one speak too loudly please, we're sensitive at the moment. Here's what we're all playing this weekend!

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 13thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-13thRPSFri, 13 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-13thPS5Science FictionSingle PlayerThird personMultiplayer CooperativeThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024ShooterComedyHelldivers 2Multiplayer CompetitiveArrowhead Game StudiosPC

Would you like to know more? Open the door and earn your citizenship today.

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The creators of Sifu and Absolver are making a football game, set many decades from nowhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-creators-of-sifu-and-absolver-are-making-a-football-game-set-many-decades-from-nowEdwin Evans-ThirlwellFri, 13 Dec 2024 01:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-creators-of-sifu-and-absolver-are-making-a-football-game-set-many-decades-from-nowThe Game Awards 2024Science FictionSportsThe Game AwardsRematchPC

Sifu and Absolver developers Sloclap have announced Rematch, a 5v5 multiplayer football game with a gentle dusting of science fiction, out in summer 2025. If, like me, you really enjoyed the French developers' previous martial art sims, you might, like me, find this news deflating. Football? We already have that at home. It's like a martial art, but all you get to kick is some... ball.

I'm not sure I'll ever entirely swallow my disappointment, but credit where it's due, Rematch does look like both an enjoyable game and a quietly disruptive one. It's also struck a chord with me inasmuch as it's a new way into the culture of a sport which I have pretty mixed feelings about.

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Warren Spector and Thief's game director are making a multiplayer immersive sim called Thick As Thieveshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/warren-spector-and-thiefs-game-director-are-making-a-multiplayer-immersive-sim-called-thick-as-thievesJeremy PeelFri, 13 Dec 2024 00:51:19 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/warren-spector-and-thiefs-game-director-are-making-a-multiplayer-immersive-sim-called-thick-as-thievesPS5StealthThick as ThievesAction AdventureWarren-SpectorXbox Series X/SOtherside EntertainmentSandboxShooterPC

A master thief creeps over cobbles in an early modern metropolis that splits the difference between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool. Lit by gaslamps that can’t quite dispel the industrial haze, they pass for a civilian - a rough one, admittedly, but not shady enough to cause an itch in the swordarm of any passing guard.

Until, that is, they take to the thieves’ highway - following the trajectory of their grappling hook upward to the rooftops, from which they can see the shape of the city, and the moon beyond. Up here, it’s a parallel world - the trees on street level answered by chimney stacks, and the distant hills echoed by the rise and fall of steep gables. “We’re super proud of these rooftops,” says Greg LoPiccolo. “It’s an amazing landscape that we put a lot of thought and effort into, and it’s a lot of fun to traverse.”

Back in 1998, LoPiccolo was the game director who saw Thief: The Dark Project to completion. Today - after an 18 year detour to Harmonix to lead projects like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, among other adventures - he’s the game director of Thick as Thieves. “It really is an opportunity to do something unique and cool and new, on the shoulders of this stuff that is now well-respected,” he says. “Thief has some legs, right? People still talk about it to some degree.”

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The Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, part three: the stalker becomes the stalkeredhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-three-the-stalker-becomes-the-stalkeredJames ArcherThu, 12 Dec 2024 15:32:46 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-three-the-stalker-becomes-the-stalkeredShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldThe Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2Action AdventureDiaryRPGFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

After a failure-riddled start, my attempt to turn S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s mutants into beasts of war is finally bearing fruit. I’ve engineered a Bloodsucker attack that wiped out the worst of villains – someone who was mean to me – and I’ve progressed far enough to really open up the map, and with it, access to more of the Zone’s fiercest fleshwarps.

Also, rats. Buoyed by the successful Bloodsucker siccing, I’m back on the trail of some mysterious anomaly scanners, and word is I might find a lead inside a local maze of wrecked cars. It’s heavily guarded by some gangster types, but for once, I won’t have to dash off in search of some far-off muties and coax them back here using my neck as bait. Mercifully, a gaggle of overgrown rodents are already hopping around right outside the labyrinth’s entrance. I beckon them in like a bouncer on his last day, then sprint past the stunned gunmen, who can barely shoulder their rifles before being set upon by a pack of giant carnivorous hamsters.

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Total War: Warhammer’s Rich Aldridge on roleplaying, iteration, and lessons from nearly a decade on strategy’s most ambitious serieshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/total-war-warhammers-rich-aldridge-on-roleplaying-iteration-and-lessons-from-nearly-a-decade-on-strategys-most-ambitious-seriesNic ReubenThu, 12 Dec 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/total-war-warhammers-rich-aldridge-on-roleplaying-iteration-and-lessons-from-nearly-a-decade-on-strategys-most-ambitious-seriesTotal War: Warhammer III - Immortal EmpiresSingle PlayerThe Creative AssemblyBird view / IsometricMultiplayer CooperativeSegaStrategy: Real-Time StrategyMultiplayer CompetitiveTotal War: Warhammer IIIStrategy

In more ways than one, today’s Total War: Warhammer 3 expansion marks a milestone for game director Rich Aldridge and his team at Creative Assembly. Omens Of Destruction’s three headline legendary lords each bring new campaigns and units for their respective factions, but it’s the fourth lord - a Khorne champion free to all players - that I imagine Aldridge will end up remembering the most fondly.

When Total War: Warhammer released back in 2016, it shipped with eight legendary lords - famous characters from Games Workshop’s fantasy setting that here act as faction leaders. The number grew steadily and, in terms of announcement order at least, today’s addition of Arbaal The Undefeated marks the series’ 100th. That's a hundred campaigns, a hundred joint efforts of game design, animation, art, writing and voice work.

Aldridge has never been shy about the team’s ambition for the series to eventually offer up each unit from every Fantasy Battle 6th edition army book ("The goal is to do everything, right?"). But ambition is one thing, and considering the fraught conditions at Creative Assembly and parent company Sega over the past few years, it’s not just the addition of the 100th lord that feels like something to celebrate. It’s taken time, effort, and a siesmic shift in update frequency, but Total War: Warhammer III is in the best place it's ever been.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 12thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-12thRPSThu, 12 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-12thSingle PlayerCard GamesStrategyLocalThunkBird view / IsometricBalatroThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024PlaystackIndiePC

Today’s advent calendar game is already inside your head, for this is not a game you stop playing, merely one you step away from between rounds. Even after you quit, it lingers on the edge of your awareness like a muffled bassline. It glitters in the air around you like a cloud of spores. It cannot be denied. It can only be…

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 11thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-11thRPSWed, 11 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-11thMechabellumSingle PlayerStrategy: Turn-Based StrategyStrategyBird view / IsometricMultiplayer CooperativeThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Game RiverMultiplayer CompetitivePC

When I were a lad, you’d open an advent calendar and get a piece of chocolate shaped like a bell with an aftertaste so rancid you’d wish you’d eaten the little cardboard window instead. And you’d bloody well make do, too. Not these days. Now, you get a squadron of tiny automata with drills for noses that burrow through your battle lines and utterly wreck your vulnerable missile launchers. Country’s gone to the tiny robot dogs, I tell you!

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 10thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-10thRPSTue, 10 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-10thSingle PlayerAction AdventureBird view / IsometricArcoThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024PanicIndieStrategy

Today’s advent calendar pick is one of 2024’s finest games we missed. It troubles our dreams and waking moments alike. It mushrooms in our peripheral vision and drifts towards us as we batter out advent calendar posts, hoping we can finish writing and beat a tactical withdrawal to the kitchen before the accusatory phantom overwhelms us. It’s a game about sin and projectile patterns and llamas. It’s...

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 9thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-9thRPSMon, 09 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-9thShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldAction AdventureRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personMultiplayer Competitive

There’s an awful lot behind this door, lemme tell ya. Hours of adventure, of tension, of action, of sci-fi strangeness. It’ll be great. Unfortunately the door itself is bugged out so you’ll need to reload a quicksave or something to get it open.

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I have rarely hated a bad guy as much as I hate Voss in Indiana Jones And The Great Circlehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-have-rarely-hated-a-bad-guy-as-much-as-i-hate-voss-in-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circleBrendan CaldwellMon, 09 Dec 2024 10:06:01 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-have-rarely-hated-a-bad-guy-as-much-as-i-hate-voss-in-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circleBlockbusterStory RichSingle PlayerThird personNarrative / Story DrivenStealthAction AdventureShooter: First PersonExplorationHistoricalIndiana Jones and the Great CircleMachineGamesXbox Series X/SFirst personBethesda Game StudiosBethesda SoftworksPuzzlePC

It's not just because he's a Nazi. It's because he's a smartass Nazi. As the main antagonist in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, Emmerich Voss vacates the archetypal armchair usually reserved for secondary fascist goons, so that he can goosestep straight into the big boy seat himself. He smiles with all the sleaze of right-hand-man Major Toht, the grubby gestapo who gets that right hand burned in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yet he also engages in the pseudo-intellectual trash talk of the main archaeological rivals to Jones, like Rene Belloq or Walter Donovan. He is a hideous grab bag of all the things that make an instantly detestable villain in the series. But there's something else. Voss is so immediately and gutturally hateable because he resembles a type of racist encountered not in the 1930s, but one you've probably met today: the asshole you meet on the internet.

Warning: Here be spoilers.

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What's on your bookshelf?: Divinity: Original Sin 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and Saltsea Chronicles’ Charlene Putneyhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-divinity-original-sin-2-baldurs-gate-3-and-saltsea-chronicles-charlene-putneyNic ReubenSun, 08 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-divinity-original-sin-2-baldurs-gate-3-and-saltsea-chronicles-charlene-putneyBooked For The Week

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Everyone knows about ‘hardback’ and ‘softback’ books, but have you heard of the quickly discontinued ‘rice puddingback’? While hiring so many rice grain artists to transpose the blurbs in beautiful calligraphy made for an impressive spectacle, they were eventually banned after several fatal train slippage and/or smellage incidents. Ah well! This week, it’s Charlene Putney, who’s been writing for games for over ten years, including bits for Divinity: Original Sin 2, Baldur's Gate 3, NUTS, and Saltsea Chronicles! Cheers Charlene! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 8thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-8thRPSSun, 08 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-8thXbox OnePS5PS4Single PlayerMetroidvaniaFantasyUbisoft MontpellierAction AdventureUbisoft EntertainmentPlatformerHack & SlashUbisoftThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X/SPrince Of Persia: The Lost CrownSide viewPC

Today's door is shimmering and promises dark magics within. It's an unlikely marriage of big budget publisher and a genre beloved most by smaller development teams. What mastery will unlock the door and expose the vast arenas within? Why, clicking to read more, of course.

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The Sunday Papershttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-747Graham SmithSun, 08 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-747BlockbusterThe Sunday Papers

Sundays are for, I hope, upgrading my PC swiftly and successfully and then getting down to business. Think of all the games I can now play! But I'll probably just play Dune Imperium.

Gail Mackenzie-Smith in Electric Lit wrote a Dear John letter breaking up with Wordle.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 7thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-7thRPSSat, 07 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-7thShooterEmbark StudiosMultiplayer CooperativeThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024The FinalsFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

You could open today's door, sure. You could also blow it up with an explosive, though. Or shoulder-barge your way through the wall beside it. Or plant some C4 on the ceiling and go up and over. Or I think that's a load-bearing pillar over there - may as well just bring down the entire advent calendar to find out what's behind today's door.

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-312Ollie TomsSat, 07 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-312Playing This Weekend

Morning, all. Hope you're keeping those game-playing hands nice and toasty this winter. You can do it however you like. Wear gloves, huff on them, sit on them, give a fluffy cat a good squeeze. I personally like to clasp a mug of almost-too-hot coffee while I gaze at my Steam library wondering where the hours have gone. To each their own. Here's what we're all clicking on this weekend!

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Mandatory ray tracing makes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle pretty yet brutal, like Indy himselfhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-pc-performance-best-settingsJames ArcherFri, 06 Dec 2024 16:56:43 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-pc-performance-best-settingsStory RichSingle PlayerThird personNarrative / Story DrivenStealthAction AdventureExplorationXbox Series X/SIndiana Jones and the Great CircleMachineGamesHardwareFirst personRay TracingBethesda SoftworksPuzzlePC

If you’d told me last year that face of all-out, GPU venerating, fully ray-traced PC game visual excess would be that of a de-aged Harrison Ford, I’d have asked which exact colour of paint you’d been eating. And yet here we are, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle loving its ray tracing so much that the effects can’t ever be fully switched off.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 6thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-6thRPSFri, 06 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-6thSingle PlayerRoguelikeHades 2Supergiant GamesAction AdventureBird view / IsometricRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024IndiePC

Open a door, then back here again, open a door, then back here again. It's as if we're caught in some infernal loop. Thankfully we get to talk to you, our attractive friends, in the moments between.

OK, ready to go again. Let's open the door.

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The Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, part two: the Zone bites backhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-two-the-zone-bites-backJames ArcherFri, 06 Dec 2024 11:37:35 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-two-the-zone-bites-backShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldThe Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2Action AdventureDiaryRPGFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

When last we left myself, on a mission to survive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 by weaponising its monsters instead of shooting its guns, my one-with-nature experiment was yielding mixed results. At best. I’d successfully lured some bandits into the deadly lair of a bucket-tossing Poltergeist, but several attempts at more actively siccing mutated pigs on the Zone’s human baddies had all failed, even when I’d seemed to actually tame one.

Now, my only friend lay dead at my feet, and I’m in dire need of some new beasts to master. And some cash. It turns out that a fighting style that involves letting shopping trolley-sized swine creatures chew on my heels is bad for the ol’ HP, and having recently blown my savings on half a sausage, I’m forced to shift focus from my current debt collection mission towards a means to fill my own coffers.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 5thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-5thRPSThu, 05 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-5thXbox OneScience FictionStrategyAndroidDune: ImperiumThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Xbox Series X/SiOSPC

Hang on, before you enter today's door, take off your shoes at do– Ach, it's everywhere. Take off your socks as well. Damn, it's in all my trouser pockets and– How did it get in my ears? I hate this stuff. Let's just hose ourselves down on the frontstep before we go in.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 4thhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-4thRPSWed, 04 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-4thGhost Ship GamesSingle PlayerFunday GamesAction AdventureBird view / IsometricThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Deep Rock Galactic: SurvivorPC

If you’re the naughty sort, legend has it that on Christmas Eve a portly bearded chap will descend down your chimney and leave behind a lump of coal. The dwarven heroes of today’s game are much the same, except instead of using the chimney they will deploy pickaxes and power tools to burrow straight through your living room wall, and will make off with any minerals in the house rather than leaving them behind in a sock.

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Here’s me getting overly excited about the new one-way doors they’re adding to Two Point Museum, plus an interviewhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/heres-me-getting-overly-excited-about-the-new-one-way-doors-theyre-adding-to-two-point-museum-plus-an-interviewNic ReubenTue, 03 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/heres-me-getting-overly-excited-about-the-new-one-way-doors-theyre-adding-to-two-point-museum-plus-an-interviewPS5Two Point MuseumXbox Series X/SManagementPC

“If, two months ago, you’d been told to close your eyes and imagine a Two Point game about a museum, you’d come up with something at least 85% identical to Two Point Museum,” wrote James, previewingishly. After spending a few hours with a beefier build, I’m inclined to agree. But, much like Campus (which gave you real incentive to actually run a smooth operation that genuinely benefited the lazy ratbags stinking up your dorm halls) it’s that extra 15% that really makes all the difference.

James already covered the new exhibits system, and how acquiring and displaying them changes the way you run things, but such globetrotting adventures do little to rattle the pulse of a world-weary mapmuncher like me. No, what I’m actually most excited for when Two Point Museum releases next February is possibly the most ostensibly uninteresting feature added to any videogame ever - partition walls.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 3rdhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-3rdRPSTue, 03 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-3rdSingle PlayerTactical Breach WizardsStrategy: Turn-Based StrategyStrategySuspicious DevelopmentsAction AdventureBird view / IsometricRPGThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024IndiePC

Are there any sights more quintessentially Christmassy than a street lit up by warm and glowing decorations, as seen through a snow-graced windowpane? Why, I could gaze through this wonderful window all day. Let’s just hope no-one decides to smash through it, eh? Why, I’d get bits of glass in my lovely warm milk, which would massively downgrade my biscuit-dunking experience. Wait. What’s that? Oh no!

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 2ndhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-2ndRPSMon, 02 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-2ndSingle PlayerBird view / IsometricRPGFelvidekJozef PavelkaThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024First personTextIndie

Today’s advent calendar window has an entire cult inside of it. Also, an alcoholic knight speaking in plummy prose between mouthfuls of booze and porridge. What’s more Christmassy than booze and porridge, eh? Not much, we’ll wager. You could pour the booze in the porridge, perhaps? You could call it ‘inebrioats’!

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What's on your bookshelf?: Games journalist and Slann butt-sculptor extraordinaire Kiera Millshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-games-journalist-and-slann-butt-sculptor-extraordinaire-kiera-millsNic ReubenSun, 01 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-games-journalist-and-slann-butt-sculptor-extraordinaire-kiera-millsBooked For The Week

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! As both Ollie and this immaculately-crafted Green Stuff Slann butt have already foretold, Kiera Mills is leaving RPS for pastures more dog-like. As such, she’s joining me to talk about books! Cheers Kiera! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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The dazzling and desirable RPS Advent Calendar 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-dazzling-desirable-rps-advent-calendar-2024RPSSun, 01 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-dazzling-desirable-rps-advent-calendar-2024The RPS Advent Calendar 2024BlockbusterIndie

December is here! It has snuck up on us once again, hidden as it always is behind November's back. It's arrival heralds the beginning of the RPS Advent Calendar 2024, the yearly list of our favourite games of the year. Step inside, open the doors, and celebrate another year's gaming survived.

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The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 1sthttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-1stRPSSun, 01 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-advent-calendar-2024-december-1stWube SoftwareSingle PlayerSimulationFactorioStrategyBird view / IsometricMultiplayer CooperativeThe RPS Advent Calendar 2024Multiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

This year’s RPS Advent Calendar has arrived, and it’s time for us to fill the nook behind each door with 24 delightful game-shaped chocolates. But man, it’s hard work making these chocolates. Too much manual labour. I wish we could automate the process somehow - perhaps we just need to exploit the planet’s resources and turn it into a giant chocolate-making factory spanning the entire solar system. Yes, that should work.

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The Sunday Papershttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-746Graham SmithSun, 01 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-746BlockbusterThe Sunday Papers

Sundays! Sundays are for going quickly.

Gabriel Winslow-Yost wrote for Harper's Magazine - not an outlet typically known for their videogame coverage - about Elden Ring and the role of death and failure in games.

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-311Ollie TomsSat, 30 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-311Playing This Weekend

The comments are back! The comments are back! Guys! Guys! The comments are back!

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Rally Point: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is both worth playing, and worth waiting for a little longerhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rally-point-cyber-knights-flashpoint-is-both-worth-playing-and-worth-waiting-for-a-little-longerSin VegaFri, 29 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rally-point-cyber-knights-flashpoint-is-both-worth-playing-and-worth-waiting-for-a-little-longerThe Rally PointCyber Knights: FlashpointIndiePC

Cyber Knights Colon Flashpoint does not lead with its best foot. This is easier to shrug off while it's still in early access, but I will confess some relief when I read that the Trese Brothers (It's pronounced "Trese") nudged their estimated release date back to 2025. It needs a bit longer. But I'm about ready to start recommending it.

I'm a tad biased by my love for their previous Star Traders Colon Frontiers, an interest in mercenary management, and a wish for more turn-based tactics games that aren't bloody XCOM again. That I have reservations about what CKF hasn't yet nailed down is in part a symptom of high expectations. And because despite carrying over some design ethos from Frontiers, Cyber Knights is a very different kind of game.

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The Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, part one: How to make friends and eviscerate peoplehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-one-how-to-make-friends-and-eviscerate-peopleJames ArcherThu, 28 Nov 2024 16:45:45 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-beastmaster-of-stalker-2-part-one-how-to-make-friends-and-eviscerate-peopleShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldThe Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2Action AdventureDiaryRPGFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl challenges you to survive the Zone, a land where the rules of nature are more like half-hearted suggestions and death may come from a mutant’s fang as quickly as a bandit’s bullet. But what if you could not only survive it, but tame it?

I am Bohdan Beastmaster, aspiring wrangler of all the radiation-twisted insults to God that occupy the Zone. One of its rogue Artifacts exploded my flat, and rather than find a place on SpareRoom, I’ve gone for the easier and safer option of venturing into the wilds of Chornobyl – armed not with rusty AKs or scavenged grenades but the teeth and claws of my mutant soon-to-be companions. The absence of any actual fauna-influencing tools or techniques only makes my plan even simpler: find beasts, aggro beasts onto human enemies, win.

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I play Foxhole as a pacifist medic who refuses to carry a gun but the enemy doesn't seem impressedhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-play-foxhole-as-a-pacifist-medic-who-refuses-to-carry-a-gun-but-the-enemy-doesnt-seem-impressedBrendan CaldwellThu, 28 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-play-foxhole-as-a-pacifist-medic-who-refuses-to-carry-a-gun-but-the-enemy-doesnt-seem-impressedStrategy: BuilderFoxholeShooter: Third PersonStrategyAction AdventureBird view / IsometricMMORPGStrategy: Real-Time StrategyMMORPGSiege CampShooterMultiplayer CompetitiveIndiePC

Another explosion sends the bodies flying. "Has anyone been here long enough to tell me what the hell is going on!?" the sergeant yells. He sounds annoyed. The field hospital is gone, probably blown to pieces. Troops keep wandering north and disappearing from view, only to come flying back as airborne cadavers moments later. The number of corpses and spilled backpacks on the road imply that someone in battalion headquarters (if such a place even exists) has made a terrible decision. If the Colonial forces want to win the persistent online war of Foxhole, suggests the sergeant with his many irritated noises, then someone needs to piece these dying fools together. As the only medic in a 500 metre radius, that means me.

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I simply can't continue with Towers Of Aghasba's survival checklist, but I hope you canhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-simply-cant-continue-with-towers-of-aghasbas-survival-checklist-but-i-hope-you-canEd ThornThu, 28 Nov 2024 11:28:04 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-simply-cant-continue-with-towers-of-aghasbas-survival-checklist-but-i-hope-you-canPS5Single PlayerAction AdventureExplorationOpen WorldRPGTowers Of AghasbaSurvival & CraftingPC

Back in January I wrote a (supporters only) post about how tired I am of all survival games starting off the same. Here's the gist of it: I've had enough of gathering rocks and sticks to make a crafting bench, from which I'm forced to build a hut and so on. I'm sure for some this is riveting, but for me, it's something I tire of within seconds.

And so it's with a heavy heart I say that Towers Of Aghasba suffers from the same starting gamut of sticks and stones. There's a hint of some interesting ecosystem stuff springing up a bit later, and judging by the trailers, an ability to clamber on massive flying creatures made of what looks like elephant skin and hair. Still, I just can't do it.

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The reforging of the Rock Paper Shotgunhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-reforging-of-the-rock-paper-shotgunEdwin Evans-ThirlwellWed, 27 Nov 2024 16:34:58 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-reforging-of-the-rock-paper-shotgun

It's often claimed by liars and fools that our website's title is a clever reference to the ancient Chinese game of shoushiling - or "rock paper scissors", as it's known overseas. The orthodox interpretation is that "Rock Paper Shotgun" is a folksy regional variation on this, with a "shotgun" instead of the "scissors". But friends, this is patently absurd. Think about it: a game that pits a shotgun against a rock or piece of paper would be incredibly one-sided. It goes against reason!

The sad reality is that the origins of our website's title have been deliberately obscured, allowing cold hard fact to slither back into legend. Behind that mockingly nonsensical moniker sleeps an eldritch truth of such gravity it would make Gandalf spill his mead. Friends, the Rock Paper Shotgun is real. The Weapon exists. Or at least, it once did - and will, for I mean to fashion it anew by combing the writing of RPS writers gone by for raw materials. And in this endeavour, I will naturally need your aid.

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Should you bother with... gaming earbuds?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/should-you-bother-with-gaming-earbudsJames ArcherWed, 27 Nov 2024 16:14:52 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/should-you-bother-with-gaming-earbudsShould You Bother WithGaming EarbudsHardwareGaming Headsets

In hindsight, it’s surprising that it took so long for hardware manufacturers to start making "gaming" earbuds. If the likes of chairs, glasses, and chewing gum can be painted stealth-bomber black and prefixed with the G word, why not something that can actually get off its harshly angled bum and help pipe the games themselves into your head?

Then again, maybe gaming earbuds were just waiting for their moment. Obviously the Nintendo Switch is the Nintendo Switch, but the rise of handhelds like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally has driven desires for more portable (yet games-friendly) noise-deliverers 'round these PC parts as well. Thus, for another edition of Should You Bother With – the RPS column where a diaphragm of testing vibrates advice directly into the cochlea of understanding – let’s have a listen of these wireless buds and find out whether they’re a worthy replacement for your current go-to headphones.

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What does it mean to recreate your old home in a video game?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-does-it-mean-to-recreate-your-old-home-in-a-video-gameEdwin Evans-ThirlwellTue, 26 Nov 2024 12:11:04 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-does-it-mean-to-recreate-your-old-home-in-a-video-gameHorrorPuzzleStory RichKids & FamilySingle PlayerFantasyExplorationRPGFirst personJanet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (And A Witch)Sopa - Tale Of The Stolen PotatoIndiePC

Sometimes a home only becomes a home when you leave. I recently moved out from a London flat I'd rented for over a decade, for instance, and this has properly done a number on me. Being given my notice transformed the place from a transient pile of cadaverous lino and spasmodic plumbing into something mythical and unnerving – a whole chapter of my life completed and reduced to a piece of masonry in the rearview mirror, a relic I had been living in for years without quite realising.

A few video game developers have investigated emotions like these by recreating their current and prior homes as virtual environments: places of mingled memory and invention, expressive of both nostalgia and surprise. At this year's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, I interviewed a couple of teams who are coming at this premise with very different objectives, and somehow, meeting in the middle. One of the games in question is a work of daydreaming fondness, the other of comical anger. Both find a focus in the figure of a matriarch who is kindly in one game, abusive in the other.

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What's on your bookshelf?: Deus Ex, Looking Glass Studios, and Otherside’s Warren Spectorhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-deus-ex-looking-glass-studios-and-othersides-warren-spectorNic ReubenSun, 24 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-deus-ex-looking-glass-studios-and-othersides-warren-spectorBooked For The Week

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This week, it’s Looking Glass Studios’ legend, Deus Ex director, and Otherside’s Warren Spector - who I suspect might have realised the very secret goal of this column. Cheers Warren! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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The Sunday Papershttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-745Graham SmithSun, 24 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-745BlockbusterThe Sunday Papers

Sundays are for sitting in a chair, I hope. Beyond that I dare not to dream.

Folks continue to sing the praises of Arco, this year's selected overlooked gem of overlooked gems. The latest is Matt Patches over at Polygon:

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-310Ollie TomsSat, 23 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-310Playing This Weekend

Here in the UK, the weekend window views are getting progressively more glacial. I'm a bit glad not to have any particular reason to go outside this weekend. It's been a hell of a week wading through anomalies for me, and I'm looking forward to some relaxation. What about you? Give me a rating out of 100 for how relaxed your weekend looks to be. Decimals allowed. Let's really get specific here.

Meanwhile, here's what we'll be clicking on this weekend!

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The RPS 101rd best game on PChttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-101rd-best-game-on-pcNic ReubenFri, 22 Nov 2024 17:08:30 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-101rd-best-game-on-pcThe RPS 100

That there are more than 100 entire PC games is a revelation as shocking as it is disturbing, but despite recently spending days translating Horace’s sonorous yawps into the list that eventually became our RPS 100, a chill silence recently befell the treehouse when we realised that some of our personal favourites had somehow been excluded. Determined to right this most heinous of wrongs, and armed with the conviction that no subjectivity be allowed to exist on the internet without at least one supplementary article of caveats, we’ve all put forth a single game that absolutely should have made the list. Consider the matter closed, then, at least until we all realise we’d actually like to do a 102nd pick each.

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If one thing works in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, it’s the incomprehensible name generator for random NPCshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/if-one-thing-works-in-stalker-2-its-the-incomprehensible-name-generator-for-random-npcsJames ArcherThu, 21 Nov 2024 16:47:21 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/if-one-thing-works-in-stalker-2-its-the-incomprehensible-name-generator-for-random-npcsShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldAction AdventureRPGFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl stays largely faithful to the original series’ bleak yet inquisitive tone and propensity for technical problems, but there’s another, much smaller feature that it also brings back: silly titles for its lesser NPCs. All the major and side characters are, indeed, characters, but rather than leave inconsequential henchmen and roving bandits nameless, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 assigns Zone-merc handles to each and every one of them. Some try to sound badass, some might as well have been chosen by the owner panickedly looking around the room for something to name himself after, and all of them sound like they should be on the actor's wall in Toast of London.

Because your life partly depends on relieving slain foes of their belongings, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 encourages you to get up close and looty with these blokes, meaning you end up spending a lot of time reading goofy nicknames. I thought I’d pay tribute to the best ones I’ve seen so far, even if the majority of these honours will need to be given posthumously.

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Here's a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 performance and settings guide I hope gets out of date really fasthttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stalker-2-pc-performance-best-settingsJames ArcherThu, 21 Nov 2024 15:38:22 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stalker-2-pc-performance-best-settingsShooterSingle PlayerS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game WorldAction AdventureRPGHardwareFirst personMultiplayer Competitive

I’ll stand by my review when I say that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is worth playing, in spite of it the many and varied ways in which it’s utterly broken. To be clear, though, it is utterly broken, in many and varied ways.

That makes my usual new-game performance analysis/settings guide song and dance harder to pull off, with or without the appropriate soundtrack. Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in such dire technical straits that we should wait for a few patches before giving it a shake? And how can its best settings be anointed if some, particularly FSR 3 frame generation, simply don’t work as they should?

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Avowed's rickety combat feels like the undoing of its lush fungal worldhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/avoweds-rickety-combat-feels-like-the-undoing-of-its-lush-fungal-worldEdwin Evans-ThirlwellThu, 21 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/avoweds-rickety-combat-feels-like-the-undoing-of-its-lush-fungal-worldPreviewsObsidian EntertainmentAvowedAction AdventureXbox Series X/SRPGXbox Game StudiosFirst personPC

I have significant reservations about Avowed, Obsidian's first-person Pillars Of Eternity spin-off RPG, but those reservations are significantly offset by the fact that I can be an undersea mushroom woman called Mystic Meg. In Avowed, you are the god-touched envoy of a distant emperor, sent to an island realm known as the Living Lands to investigate a mysterious blight. "God-touched", in this case, means "fungal and a bit mermaidy". It means that you can make rainbow toadstools sprout from your eyesocket in the character creator. It means that you can accessorise your cheekbones with what look like bracket polypores, or deck your ears with staghorn coral.

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Mouthwashing is the most horrifying game of 2024https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/mouthwashing-is-the-most-horrifying-game-of-2024Brendan CaldwellWed, 20 Nov 2024 10:10:39 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/mouthwashing-is-the-most-horrifying-game-of-2024HorrorSingle PlayerMouthwashingAction AdventureWrong OrganCritical ReflexFirst personIndiePC

In 2015 a flight by Germanwings carrying 144 passengers and six crew crashed into a mountain in the French Alps. Later, the authorities who investigated the crash judged it was intentional - somebody in the cockpit had purposefully crashed the plane in an act of suicide, killing themselves and everyone on board. Mouthwashing begins with the same premise, albeit in a sci-fi setting. You're piloting a spaceship with a crew of five, clicking on its various controls to override the safety and turn the ship towards a nearby heap of space rock. You mean to crash. The words that appear moments before this sequence are chilling in their simplicity: "I hope this hurts."

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Soulframe has the bones of a great action-RPG, but I’m enjoying it partly because it feels too late to enjoy Warframehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/soulframe-has-the-bones-of-a-great-action-rpg-but-im-enjoying-it-partly-because-it-feels-too-late-to-enjoy-warframeEdwin Evans-ThirlwellMon, 18 Nov 2024 15:45:43 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/soulframe-has-the-bones-of-a-great-action-rpg-but-im-enjoying-it-partly-because-it-feels-too-late-to-enjoy-warframeThird personSoulframeMMORPGRPGDigital ExtremesPC

I've been trying to work out if I'm keen on Soulframe only because I feel guilty about missing the boat with Warframe. I reviewed Digital Extremes' hit free-to-play shooter in 2013, back when people were still calling it a spiritual successor to the developer's boomerang-throwing action game Dark Sector. I didn't like Warframe much at the time. Think I gave it a 6/10. Warp forward a decade, and that 6/10 game has become a thriving live service phenomenon - fifteenth on the Steam Most Played charts at the time of writing, and profitable enough to spawn its own annual TennoCon expo. It's also become an intoxicating, confusing morass of dynastic sci-fantasy politicking and genre-shifting expansions, ranging from capital ship mechanics to questions of time travel, wrapped in layers of cosmetics that make Destiny look about as colourful as Gears Of War.

I definitely didn't see all that coming. I doubt Digital Extremes saw it coming either. Warframe today feels like a lab experiment run amok. I love its appetite for novelty, but there's a lot for a returning player to catch up on and, frankly, it feels like homework. As such, I had a couple of broad motivations for playing Soulframe's pre-alpha "prelude": I'm keen to see what Digital Extremes can do when they aren't encumbered by 10 years of world-building, and I want to get in on the ground floor before they absolutely swamp this thing in updates.

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What's on your bookshelf?: Game Maker's Toolkit and Mind Over Magnet's Mark Brownhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-game-makers-toolkit-and-mind-over-magnets-mark-brownNic ReubenSun, 17 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-game-makers-toolkit-and-mind-over-magnets-mark-brownBooked For The Week

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This week, it’s Game Maker’s Toolkit and Mind Over Magnet mechanics knower, explainer, and designer, Mark Brown! Cheers Mark! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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The Sunday Papershttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-744Graham SmithSun, 17 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-744BlockbusterThe Sunday Papers

I will spend this Sunday nursing a chest infection, probably by wrapping blankets around myself and watching YouTube videos until sleep comes. Let's first round up some good links with writing and videos about videogames.

This is surely the best link this week: an hour-long video on how to beat "every possible game of Pokemon Platinum at the same time". That is, coming up with a set of game inputs that can win billions of possible permutations of the game, as determined by its RNG, when played simultaneously. It's an impressive feat, but the video itself is great too, patiently breaking down the process with motion graphics and video editing flair. Delightful.

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-309Nic ReubenSat, 16 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-309Playing This Weekend

It's a strange new world we find ourselves in. Previously, we'd only feared for those of you playing games with names like "The Addresses Of All Notable Public Figures in Terra Gaia VI" and "Xtreme Bomb Maker: Easily Obtainable Household Objects Edition". Alas, the automod decided that what a healthy comment system really needs is a blanket ban on the entirety of language. Typical robot. Anyway, that should be sorted now, so please welcome this most hallowed of RPS traditions back with aplomb. No. Aplomb. Christ. It's coming for us now. Here's what we're clicking on:

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The Rally Point: Field of Glory: Kingdoms is an elaborate building game in a grand strategy jackethttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rally-point-field-of-glory-kingdoms-is-an-elaborate-building-game-in-a-grand-strategy-jacketSin VegaFri, 15 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rally-point-field-of-glory-kingdoms-is-an-elaborate-building-game-in-a-grand-strategy-jacketAGEODSimulationStrategySlitherineField Of Glory: KingdomsThe Rally PointPC

Four thousand words of notes. Hoboy. Field of Glory Colon Kingdoms is definitely thought-provoking.

It was also complaint-provoking in the fairly long period where I didn't understand what it's trying to do. Reaching that point, luckily for you, means we can cut out a lot of the "confused whingeing" subsection of those notes. Though it still has its shortcomings, I've come to appreciate that I was reading Kingdoms all wrong. Although it talks big about characters, politics, and religion, they're not what it's about. It's about building.

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Rue Valley is sending the nattering inner voices of Disco Elysium to therapyhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rue-valley-is-sending-the-nattering-inner-voices-of-disco-elysium-to-therapyBrendan CaldwellThu, 14 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rue-valley-is-sending-the-nattering-inner-voices-of-disco-elysium-to-therapyMysteryAction AdventureRue ValleyRPGEmotion Spark StudioIndiePC

In Rue Valley you role play a guy with poor mental health. He wanders around a crappy motel, stuck in the same old patterns of life, seemingly unable to escape his inner demons. When confronted with the premise for this upcoming RPG you may have one of two reactions. The first: you will say "lol, it me" with enough humour to wishlist it on Steam and earmark it for the future. The second: you will mutter "ugh, it me" and be immediately put off by the idea of having to tolerate an entire second layer of psychological hangups.

There is a third secret reaction though... you might think: oh, this looks a lot like Disco Elysium, but in the real world.

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Fiddly parkour is the secret sauce that makes every moment of Deadlock compellinghttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/fiddly-parkour-is-the-secret-sauce-that-makes-every-moment-of-deadlock-compellingMatt CoxThu, 14 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/fiddly-parkour-is-the-secret-sauce-that-makes-every-moment-of-deadlock-compellingValveSingle PlayerThird personStrategyMOBAVirtual RealityShooterMultiplayer CompetitiveDeadlockPC

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: running away is the best feeling in videogames. More specifically, being chased is the best feeling in videogames, a sentiment I’d happen to share with my golden retriever if you replaced the word “videogames” with “the universe”. He is a purer being, but he’ll also never know the joy of executing a rail-dismount into a dashing corner-jump escape in Deadlock, and for this he deserves our pity.

It’s easy to miss if you haven’t played for at least a few hours, but Deadlock packs one of the most engaging movement systems this side of Tribes Ascend.

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Inside Snap Tap, the new hotness keyboard feature outlawed by Valvehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/inside-snap-tap-the-new-hotness-keyboard-feature-outlawed-by-valveJames ArcherThu, 14 Nov 2024 11:24:02 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/inside-snap-tap-the-new-hotness-keyboard-feature-outlawed-by-valveValveEsportsShooterSingle PlayerMilitaryCounter-Strike 2eSports relevantRazerWootingValve SoftwareHardwareFirst personMultiplayer CompetitiveGaming KeyboardsPC

The gaming keyboard market is currently tripping over itself, trying to equip everything with the technology most commonly known as Snap Tap: a feature that promises hyperfast inputs of two alternating keypresses, making you an unkillable side-strafing blur in your FPS of choice. Introduced on Razer’s Huntsman V3 Pro series and quickly followed by Wooting’s (functionally distinct but effectively identical) Rappy Snappy, Snap Tap is now wearing multiple names as it takes over the world of RGB peripherals, from SteelSeries’ Rapid Tap to Corsair’s FlashTap and Keychron’s... Last Keystroke Prioritisation. Which doesn’t sound as sexy, but still.

However, Snap Tap is also drawing a level of ire that exceeds the usual baseline scepticism of hardware marketing. Because it enables a form of input automation – where you can quickly move in two directions by rapidly tapping one key, while holding down another – it’s considered by some as tantamount to cheating, allowing players to cross the line that divides unfair play from the accepted comforts that come with simply using a responsive Hall Effect keyboard or high-refresh-rate monitor. It’s even become a bannable offence in certain games, most notably in Counter-Strike 2.

Neither side is backing down; in an astonishingly worded tweet, Wooting went as far as to concede Snap Tap "should be considered cheating. But if it’s allowed, you need it." But do you?

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The new Nvidia App is out now, justly banishing GeForce Experience to historyhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-new-nvidia-app-is-out-now-justly-banishing-geforce-experience-to-historyJames ArcherTue, 12 Nov 2024 13:56:26 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-new-nvidia-app-is-out-now-justly-banishing-geforce-experience-to-historyNvidia G-SyncGraphics CardsHardwareOverclockingNvidiaNvidia DLDSR

After nearly a year of public beta honing, the Nvidia App – Team Green’s new one-stop shop for desktop GPU management – is out in full. Not alongside the upcoming RTX 50 series, as rumoured, but right-now-today-this-minute. I’ve been testing out the launch version and while it’s not without some dud features, it does agreeably achieve its stated goal of combining the functions within Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience. And if installing it means never having to use the latter again, well, that’s 149MB well spent.

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How ten years of Game Maker’s Toolkit’s design analysis informed Mind Over Magnethttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-ten-years-of-game-makers-toolkits-design-analysis-informed-mind-over-magnetNic ReubenMon, 11 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-ten-years-of-game-makers-toolkits-design-analysis-informed-mind-over-magnetGame Maker's ToolkitMind Over MagnetPlatformerPuzzlePC

"A lot of puzzle games can leave you staring at the same static screen for ages, but here, I’m always pushing you forward," says Mark Brown of Game Maker’s Toolkit. For a decade now, Brown has been releasing accessible deep dives on game design for his popular YouTube channel, like "How Game Designers Protect Players From Themselves" and "The Two Types of Random in Game Design." This week, he’s releasing his own for the first time.

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What's on your bookshelf?: Liminal biscuit filling editionhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-liminal-biscuit-filling-editionNic ReubenSun, 10 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/whats-on-your-bookshelf-liminal-biscuit-filling-editionBooked For The WeekBlockbuster

My brain is still thawing for the comment freeze, and thus there is sadly no cool industry person to talk to us about books this week. I'm currently reading Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection. Jia Tolentino wrote about it for the New Yorker. Jia Tolentino also writes very good books. But enough about books, tell me about books! One's you've read, preferably, but I will also accept books you've formed opinions on based on their covers, as is good and proper. Book for now!

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The Sunday Papershttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-743Graham SmithSun, 10 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-sunday-papers-743BlockbusterThe Sunday Papers

November 8th, 2005 was my first day as a full-time games journalist, which means I have now entered my 20th year of doing this. "This" has changed a lot over time: from producing CD and DVD coverdiscs, to writing for a magazine, to editing magazines and a website, to solely editing a website, to managing several websites. Sprinkle podcasts, videos, events and a lot of other things in there and "games journalist" doesn't really cover it.

One of the only constants is that I read a lot of writing about video games.

Dapper gent Oli Welsh wrote for Polygon about the fan reboot of City Of Heroes. We briefly covered fans getting an official license earlier this year, but Oli went and spoke to the folks making it all work.

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What are we all playing this weekend?https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-308Ollie TomsSat, 09 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/what-are-we-all-playing-this-weekend-308Playing This Weekend

Alright everyone, let's put this new comments section through its paces. I want to hear deep and detailed roundups of everything you've been playing over the past two weeks this time! We're gonna make our tech team weep. Here's what we're clicking on this weekend!

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Object-ive Review: Hitman’s rubber duckhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/object-ive-review-hitmans-rubber-duckNic ReubenFri, 08 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/object-ive-review-hitmans-rubber-duckHitman World of AssassinationXbox OnePS5PS4Object-ive ReviewSingle PlayerThird personStealthAction AdventureXbox Series X/SIO InteractiveSandboxShooterHitman 3PC

"The cool thing about bombs is that you can hide them in anything," is probably my favourite Oppenheimer quote of all time, and in the case of Ian Hitman, it does raise an important question: with so many everyday objects equal to the rubber duck in its unthreatening aura, yet more inconspicuous, why choose to put an explosive in this one?

The simplest answer is that’s it’s a recurring bit of levity, a holdover easter egg, elevated to the status of key mission item in Hitman: Codename 47 before being given pride of place as an explosive in the World Of Assassination games. But to ascribe such unassuming purpose to the duck is to ignore its revelatory power. We must go deeper.

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Apex Legends is revisiting the past, but it should be prouder of its presenthttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/apex-legends-is-revisiting-the-past-but-it-should-be-prouder-of-its-presentJames ArcherFri, 08 Nov 2024 09:49:08 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/apex-legends-is-revisiting-the-past-but-it-should-be-prouder-of-its-presentXbox OneApex LegendsPS4ShooterMultiplayer CooperativeRespawn EntertainmentNintendo SwitchFirst personMultiplayer CompetitivePCElectronic Arts

Nostalgia, when you think about it, is bollocks. There has never been a better time than right this second – averaged out, and despite repeated attempts to the contrary, humanity has never been healthier, freer, or more enlightened by knowledge. It’s true of games too. For every by-committee platter of passionless map markers, there are thousands of more personal, more creative, more interesting works, all adding to the decades' worth of great stuff we can still play today.

What isn’t bollocks is the emotional pull that nostalgia, for all its lack of cold, hard reason, still manages to wield inside our warm, squishy brains. Hence, the centrepiece of Apex Legends’ Season 23 update is a mode that recreates the battle royale FPS as it was back in 2019, defaulting back to the original map and weapon arsenal while cutting the 26-strong legend roster to the earliest ten. It’s a Fortnite-style rolling back of the clock, and a passably enjoyable one, but also a reminder that the good old days weren’t always that good.

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Alan Wake 2’s The Lake House is a dark, brilliant parable on the devaluation of art and artistshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/alan-wake-2s-the-lake-house-is-a-dark-brilliant-parable-on-the-devaluation-of-art-and-artistsNic ReubenThu, 07 Nov 2024 09:20:06 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/alan-wake-2s-the-lake-house-is-a-dark-brilliant-parable-on-the-devaluation-of-art-and-artistsHorrorPS5ShooterSingle PlayerMysteryRemedy EntertainmentThird personAction AdventureEpic GamesXbox Series X/SAlan Wake 2PC

There must be hundreds of typewriters in the hall, their collective clacks a tidal wave of soulless automation, rising up to greet agent Kiran Estevez as she enters, pistol and flashlight in hands. Exploring rooms to the side, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House’s star finds whiteboards and documents revealing the typewriter’s purpose: to mimic Wake’s writing. Pages are graded along criteria such as ‘style’, ‘tone’, and ‘content’, then “fed into the algorithm” as references until “near-identical stories” to Wake’s can be produced.

“If Jules could simply cut the painter open and pull the painting out of him, he would,” reads one of the real Alan’s typewritten pages. That’s Jules Marmont, the obsessive head of the titular FBC centre. The Marmonts - Jules and his wife Diana - are running experiments to forcibly and synthetically create works of art, aiming to mimic creative passion convincingly enough for the paranatural entity inside Cauldron Lake to respond, as it has in the past.

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Deus Ex was always sh....wait no comments are back sorry sorry I'm trying to delete ithttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/deus-ex-was-always-shwait-no-comments-are-back-sorry-sorry-im-trying-to-delete-itNic ReubenWed, 06 Nov 2024 14:32:05 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/deus-ex-was-always-shwait-no-comments-are-back-sorry-sorry-im-trying-to-delete-itPS2ShooterSingle PlayerAspyrDeus ExEidos InteractiveRPGFirst personEidosPCDragon Age: The Veilguard is Veil-good on the Steam Deckhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-steam-deckJames ArcherTue, 05 Nov 2024 16:50:07 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-steam-deckPS5Steam Deck AcademySingle PlayerThird personStrategyBiowareSteam DeckAction AdventureXbox Series X/SRPGHardwarePCDragon Age: The VeilguardElectronic Arts

Discourse? Look mate, I’m just here to test the Steam Deck. Dragon Age: The Veilguard runs like a tap on any halfway decent desktop hardware, so was naturally going to be worth trying on the weaker Deck. And sure enough, Bioware’s RPG (which is really more of an action game with the occasional verbal spar) settles comfortably into handheld life.

In fact, Valve have festooned its Steam page with a Verified medal, a seal of approval for any game that performs and controls well on the Steam Deck without any glaring weaknesses or impractical annoyances. It’s still worth playing around with the settings – more on those later – but I’ll back up that official assessment, having played for several hours without so much as an undersized tooltip.

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Baldur’s Gate 3's reactivity didn’t ruin Veilguard's linearity for me - it let me enjoy it morehttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/baldurs-gate-3s-reactivity-didnt-ruin-veilguards-linearity-for-me-it-let-me-enjoy-it-moreNic ReubenMon, 04 Nov 2024 15:08:15 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/baldurs-gate-3s-reactivity-didnt-ruin-veilguards-linearity-for-me-it-let-me-enjoy-it-moreSingle PlayerStrategyBiowareAction AdventureRPGDragon Age: The VeilguardElectronic Arts

Minor spoilers for the first few hours of Veilguard and heavy spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3

For all the things I ended up enjoying about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it isn’t much of an RPG. What little roleplaying it does offer revolves around what flavour of supportive hero you prefer, and you can count the number of impactful dialogue decisions on a three-fingered hand. This might sound utterly damning in the wake of Baldur's Gate 3’s incredible reactivity, and if I approached games as some sort of tedious comparative intellectual exercise rather than just, y’know, seeing how I felt about them, then I suppose it would be. Weirdly, though, the recent memory of Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t diminish my time with Veilguard at all. It was actually the opposite: it freed Dragon Age from having to carry the torch for a certain period in Bioware’s history, and let me enjoy Veilguard for what it was.

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