Stumble and dance through a bleak post-Soviet city in this excellent new first-person explorer

enTue, 03 Oct 2023 16:00:18 +0000Stumble and dance through a bleak post-Soviet city in this excellent new first-person explorerhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stumble-and-dance-through-a-bleak-post-soviet-city-in-this-excellent-new-first-person-explorerAlice O'ConnorTue, 03 Oct 2023 16:00:18 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stumble-and-dance-through-a-bleak-post-soviet-city-in-this-excellent-new-first-person-explorerNeyasnoeSimulationIndieSingle PlayerFirst personSad3dImpulse BuysIndiescoveryPCMacIt's Winter

What are you doing later? Bit of a night out in a bleak post-Soviet city, maybe? Drink? Dance? Drugs? Pet giant rats? Chat with a back-alley cyborg tech? Catch a poetry reading? Have a blood pressure test? Contemplate your empty existence? Eat a kebab? All this and more awaits you with Neyasnoe, the new first-person explorer from the creators of It's Winter. While It's Winter had you so bored and lonely you might cook egg on toast only to flush it down the toilet, here you're surrounded by life, and I'm not sure that's much more comfort.

]]>Our PC Games of the Year 2019https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/best-pc-games-of-2019RPSMon, 06 Jan 2020 10:11:22 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/best-pc-games-of-2019A Short HikeHypnospace OutlawElizaMetro ExodusMordhauA Plague Tale: InnocenceApex LegendsOxygen Not IncludedMutazioneOuter WildsStar Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderBestest BestsIt's WinterRed Dead Redemption 2Untitled Goose GameFeatureBlockbusterThey Are BillionsHeaven's VaultApe OutControlPlanet ZooDisco ElysiumNoitaStreets of RogueThe RPS Advent Calendar 2019Wilmot's WarehouseSekiro: Shadows Die Twice

2019 was a great year for PC games - aren't they all? - but you might not yet know what the very best PC games of 2019 were. Let us help you.

]]>The It's Winter and Routine Feat developer explains Russian sadness and powerful moodshttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-its-winter-and-routine-feat-developer-explains-russian-sadness-and-powerful-moodsRyland H. GarnettFri, 13 Sep 2019 11:00:25 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-its-winter-and-routine-feat-developer-explains-russian-sadness-and-powerful-moodsRoutine FeatFeatureIndieIt's WinterSad3dInterview

Alexandre Ignatov makes strange, quiet, melancholy worlds to explore. He calls them “sad3d”, also the name he publishes under on itch.io. But Ignatov has a whole back catalogue of these games, and they’ve only been growing larger and more complex with time. If you’ve been reading RPS closely you might know of the most recent ones, It’s Winter and Routine Feat.

Ignatov's games have a depth of interaction you don’t see outside of immersive sims, yet no pressure to really do anything, and a distinctly Russian identity. I found I couldn’t stop thinking about them, so I contacted Ignatov to ask about their origins and inspirations.

]]>Our favourite games of 2019 so farhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-best-games-of-2019-so-farRPSWed, 10 Jul 2019 16:00:56 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-best-games-of-2019-so-farHypnospace OutlawPuzzleMetro ExodusMordhauA Plague Tale: InnocenceHearthstone: Rise Of ShadowsThe Things We Lost In The FloodApex LegendsShooterStory RichSnakeybusSupraballOuter WildsAssassin's Creed OdysseyIndieBestest BestsSteamWorld Quest: The Hand of GilgamechIt's WinterStrategyFeatureBlockbusterSurviving Mars: Green PlanetThey Are BillionsHeaven's VaultRPGSekiro: Shadows Die TwicePIONApe OutAction AdventureIslandersAce Combat 7: Skies UnknownRPS IndexQT

Summer. The heat age. Scorch season. Spring's hangover. It's the mid-point of the year and you know what that means. No, not "mojito time", Geoff, put those away. It's time we told you what the best games of the year are so far. There are quite a lot of them. Just look how many videogames have escaped from their developers in the past six months and are now running amok through the blistering streets, getting stuck in the melting tarmac, like ants in jam. It's unsanitary. So allow us to round up these unruly games and trap them in a handy list. Here are our favourite sword swingers and space 'splorers so far this year (and a couple of DLCs for good measure).

Okay, Geoff, now bring the mojitos.

]]>Wot I Think: It's Winterhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/its-winter-reviewAlec MeerTue, 02 Apr 2019 08:00:50 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/its-winter-reviewFeatureReviewsSimulationIndieSad3dWalking SimulatorAlexandre IgnatovIt's WinterWot I Think

'Winter' has always been a term with two meanings. The crisp, pure return to nature of a snow-settled world, but also the grey death of everything: the wistful dream and the dour reality. Romance, mundanity.

It's Winter, a short vignette about Eastern European apartment blocks, is both of those things. Magic and tedium, wonder and ennui. Real winter, scenes that make your blood temperature drop ten degrees, landscapes that you yearn to be in, a life you immediately feel desperate to escape.

]]>Explore, clean, and cook on a Russian night in It's Winterhttps://www.rockpapershotgun.com/its-winter-russian-apartment-gameAlice O'ConnorMon, 11 Mar 2019 17:16:28 +0000https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/its-winter-russian-apartment-gameIndieSad3dWalking SimulatorAlexandre IgnatovIt's Winter

It's the middle of the night, you're alone in a small Russian apartment in a concrete tenement, in a half-deserted neighbourhood surrounded by snow and trees, and you're awake. Now what? That's up to you in It's Winter, a delightful new poke-o-walking simulator where we can wander the neighbourhood, take in the sights and sounds of the night, muck about with items, and even cook a little. It captures a real nightness, mystery and quiet and loneliness and freedom to do anything without anything to do. What really sold me on It's Winter, mind, was one player's video tweet of making then eating egg on toast.

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