After a successful first outing, RPS Game Club is returning for another year of gaming show-and-tells, and this time, we're publishing the schedule in advance so you know exactly what's coming up and when. Handy, say, if you want to keep an eye on certain sale prices for games you've got your eye on, or you want to clear your calendar so you can join us for our end-of-month liveblog session where we all get together book club-style to talk about the month's pick. Each member of the RPS Treehouse is getting involved this year as well, so read on below to find out what's on the Club docket.
]]>Charity speedrun fest Summer Games Done Quick is staging its first in-person event since 2019, and there are shedloads of PC games to gawp at. SGDQ is one of the highlights of the year’s speedrunning calendar, and this year’s event runs until July 3rd. Doctors Without Borders is once again the charity SGDQ is raising money for, an NGO that helps people caught in warzones, disasters and outbreaks of disease. Last year’s event managed to raise $2.9 million (around £2.4 million). To get you in the right frame of mind, here’s a PC run of Tomb Raider: Anniversary from SGDQ 2021.
]]>Of the many possibilities that Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard might enable, only one seems really clear: that Microsoft will put Actiblizz games on Game Pass. Beyond that, it's all mights and maybes. Here's another maybe: Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says they're hoping to dig into Actiblizz's "franchises that I love from my childhood," raising the likes of Hexen and King's Quest. What better use for $69 billion than wallowing in nostalgia?
]]>Right after A Short Hike won the Independent Games Festival Awards grand prize last night, the Game Developers Choice Awards declared Untitled Goose Game the game of the year. Other games to win prizes Dev Choice Awards include Disco Elysium, Control, and Baba Is You - some good stuff. They also handed the Pioneer Award to Roberta Williams, the Sierra co-founder known for adventure games from Mystery House to Phantasmagoria.
]]>I'm never one to shy away from criticism. I am the sort of brave, intrepid fellow who takes it on the chin, and uses it to begin introspective journeys in search of clarity and truth. And it is for this reason, as you will see, that I have returned to the 1993 version of Sierra's King's Quest VI.
]]>The fifth Chapter of The Demons Whispering Sierra's Name in the Darkness's revived episodic King's Quest [official site] is now out. Old King Graham is dusting off his jaunty hat and squeezing into his adventuretrousers for one last quest. Let's pretending I'm not all wistful about the hints that this character whose games I've never played will pop his clogs after he finally finishes telling his granddaughter his life's story; it's a weird time for me, okay.
]]>Oh! Chapter 4 of the episodic King's Quest [official site] revival is now out. Pop! Out of nowhere, five months since the last episode - just when I'd forgotten about it - here's more of the adventure game. King Graham is continuing telling tales about his younger days, though he seems to be getting on a bit by Chapter 4. This time, Activision say, "King Graham recounts the time he had to rescue Prince Alexander from Queen Icebella's Frozen Castle." Okey cokey. Have a peek in this launch trailer:
]]>A new King's Quest [official site] was one of the first projects Activision announced after hauling the hide of Sierra Entertainment off their trophy wall and wrapping it around one of their colossal Actifingers, bringing back one of the shut-down publisher's touchstones. With the series' creators and makers long gone, the new episodic King's Quest was made by P.B. Winterbottom devs The Odd Gentlemen. Three episodes are out so far, and now the first episode is free for everyone to try. Our John did not like it, but are you curious to see for yourself?
]]>Love! Don't talk to me about love. Especially not if you're talking about falling in love with people. Look at young King-to-be Graham in the third episode of Activision's revived King's Quest [official site], off adventuring in search of love, travelling through a grand forest and tumbling down a hill - two bits of landscape that it'd be perfectly reasonable to fall deeply in love with. But no, he's off climbing a magic tower to rescue a princess to love or something? But fine, sure, whatever, if you're into that sort of thing, then Chapter 3: Once Upon a Climb Launch is out.
]]>Oh wow.
I really had no idea what to expect of the return of King’s Quest [official site]. The original series were mostly terrible, twee and poorly constructed adventure games, but it had its moments, and certainly found its place in nostalgia. The news of its return after a few abortive efforts seemed like it could bode well, especially with The Odd Gentlemen (PB Winterbottom) behind the wheel. Trailers were confusing, not making it clear if it was an adventure game, platformer, third-person somethinger. But I waited to see. Here's wot I think:
]]>The adventure has begun! Both the episodic new King's Quest [official site], and what might really happen as Activision dusts off the old Sierra name and catalogue for the modern age. It's not the first game released under the new Sierra 'indie label' (that's Geometry Wars 3), but King's Quest is pretty iconic for Sierra. It can never live up to people's memories of King's Quest, but might it be a merry lark?
You can find out for yourself, as the first episode, named A Knight to Remember, launched last night. Come have a peek in the appropriately '80s launch trailer:
]]>The new King's Quest [official site] is the first real test for the glove puppet Activision have made from the flayed hide of Sierra. Will its revival of Ye Olde Sierra adventure game series fill you with warmth and love and joy and nostalgia and make you embrace and kiss the glove, murmuring "I've missed you, I've missed you so much" as tears runs down your cheeks, or will you slap the leathery paw away and screw your eyes tight repeating "It's only a dream, it's only a dream"?
The first episode, A Knight to Remember, will launch on July 28th, Sierra have announced.
]]>The return of King's Quest does seem strange. Activision's decision to revive the Sierra name, and then use it as a sort of faux-independent label, was accompanied by the news that the PB Winterbottom devs The Odd Gentlemen would resurrect the King's Quest license [official site]. But look, see, here's the thing: The King's Quest games, with the exception of VI, were pretty bloody awful. Everyone seems to have forgotten that. Anyway, we've some more in-game footage of the new entry that doesn't look anything like an adventure game. But have seen some other footage that shows a very different looking more traditional game.
]]>The art direction in the new King's Quest [official website] is a prickly subject. While some people are unimpressed with the final outcome, at least we can all agree that it comes from a good place. The latest 'Behind The Scenes With The Odd Gentlemen' video (which will never stop being creepy) shows that everything you see in the game will be hand-painted. Whether you’re a fan of the painting or not is up to you.
]]>Christopher Lloyd will be voicing the old King Graham in the new King’s Quest game [official site], as revealed in the latest “Behind the scenes with the Odd Gentlemen” video. Which sounds a bit like one or two of my more regrettable experiences in the last few years.
The dev diary goes on show off the whole main cast, including Zelda Williams, Rex from Toy Story and the Ice King from Adventure Time. Oh, and some kid who thinks being in a video game is really cool because "instead of being in a movie like I've usually been in, I get to be in a game." So that's good.
]]>Trailers don't always turn me into a shrieking teenybopper, but I'm not ashamed to say I made high-pitched noises — think long, loud "EEEE"s of raw and immeasurable glee - at the King's Quest announcement trailer. A joint production between The Odd Gentleman and the newly resurrected Sierra Games, the upcoming reboot is all about a doddering King Graham going, "In my time - " at his granddaughter Gwendoyln while he shakes his cane-sword at shadow bunnies.
]]>The ritual is complete. Sinew gristle muscle fat slither and wrap around the blackened bones of Sierra. Blood skin hair. Its mouth opens and teeth pierce bone as they rise, a tongue unrolling from the back of the throat. "Gaaammesss," it hisses. "Video gaaames." Jelly congeals into eyes which flick around, taking in the year 2014. "I-inn independent gaaamesss!"
As expected, Activision have resurrected Sierra in the sense that they've dusted off the revered name to use it for a new part of their business. The new Sierra will be Activision's indie publishing label, kicking things off with Geometry Wars 3 and a new King's Quest game.
]]>Yesterday, I put on my fuzzy-eared detective hat and grilled Telltale president Kevin Bruner about his company's next big, hopefully not bad thing, The Wolf Among Us. The Fables-based caper sounds like a worthy (though unexpected) follow-up to The Walking Dead, but it's hardly the only story being writ large by Telltale's ostentatiously oversized quill pens. The developer also regularly creates experimental prototypes involving AI, story structures, the way players communicate with characters, and tons more. Fittingly - given the developer's love of episodic stories - they call it the Pilot Program. Some of these "weird" ideas make it into games, but many of them don't. Ultimately, though, this is Telltale's way of paving a path to its own future. I quizzed Bruner about the good, the bad, and the ugly of his company's experiments, as well as a couple other loose ends like King's Quest. It's all after the break.
]]>I'll admit, I'm rather bemused by the desire for more King's Quest. It seems that everyone else has far more affection for the series than I ever mustered, far preferring the runs of Police Quest, Space Quest and Quest For Glory. I'd throw money at a Police Quest Kickstarter so hard it'd fall over backward. But reviving King's Quest is clearly the dream for many, and until recently, was a dream of Telltale's.
]]>Telltale's pretty much synonymous with The Walking Dead these days, but it has plans. Big plans. Maybe it'll build a rocketship to Mars. Or perhaps it'll make the world's tallest ice cream sandwich. Also to Mars. Or I guess it could be making some more videogames, but that's kinda reaching a bit. Regardless, I asked Telltale CEO Dan Connors what lies beyond his studio's tear-blurred vision of the apocalypse, and he laid out quite the roadmap. Click past the break for updates on Fables, King's Quest (sorta), potential plans for an entirely original multimedia universe, and a discussion of why JJ Abrams and Valve are hardly the only ones building bridges between entertainment's many scattered islands.
]]>Could Roberta and Ken Williams be about to come out of retirement? Speaking to Al Lowe and Paul Trowe for an interview due later today, RPS learned that the company remaking the Leisure Suit Larry games is also in talks with other Sierra adventure alumni about bringing back their classic series. Replay Games' Trowe revealed that they're currently in negotiations with both Sierra On-line co-founders Ken and Roberta Williams, as well as Space Quest creators, Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, with an interest to see King's Quest and Space Quest brought back. With the added obstacle of Activision to manoeuvre around too.
]]>More adventure gaming news now, following John's tearful account of the beautiful To The Moon. Sunday sees the release of the fourth episode of Pheonix Online's unofficial King's Quest game, The Silver Lining. As with the others, it's absolutely free but they are after money for something else. While working away on The Silver Lining, they've announced a new project, Cognition, in collaboration with Gabriel Knight designer Jane Jensen. It looks like a darker affair than King's Quest, which admittedly isn't a stretch, and there's a short promotional video for that as well. Two videos in one post - it's like a multiplex down there!
]]>Will there be a #2? I've no idea. But for now here's a collection of some games I saw at E3 2011 and the accompanying thoughts. Below you can find The Old Republic, Telltale's latest crop, and Codies' F1 2011.
]]>For a wonderful second I was convinced this was the fourth episode of the unofficial King's Quest fan-game The Silver Lining, and was all braced to use the headline "Four Ever Cloud." Imagine how clever and funny that would have been. Just. Imagine. Instead, you're stuck with whatever the heck I've written up there instead. I haven't even decided what it is yet, I'm just hoping inspiration will somehow strike as I'm typing this.
So, The Silver Lining - a free game made by devout enthusiasts of the old Sierra adventure series (the ones that some people keep complaining we didn't cover in The List, which spans the last two decades; as I said in comments somewhere, an 80s appendix strikes me as a good idea for the near-future). Episode 3 here now, and its trailer is below.
]]>After much to-and-fro, King's Quest tribute game The Silver Lining from Phoenix Online Studios has not only been granted a release by IP holders Activision, but the first episode is out now. A completely fan-made project, and completely free, it's been eight years in creation. I've finished the first chapter, so here's Wot I Think.
]]>I'm stuck at this point. The problem is this: for years and years we had to suffer every mention of an adventure game being accompanied by a phrase somehow relating to adventure games being dead. I mean, I wrote them myself when I was young and stupid. They would go, "The adventure game may be dead, but here's one last gasp," or more optimistically, "The adventure game's not dead, but in a coma," or whatever. The idiocy of these comments was the frequency. Here's what happened: adventure games, in their abundance, weren't very good any more. Apart from the good ones. The point of all this is to say how much I want to respond to the news, that following LucasArts' releasing classic adventure games on Steam, Activision-Blizzard are putting some classic Sierra adventure games on the download service, by writing, "Adventure games may be dead, but their ghosts are coming back to haunt us." But I cannot, because I'd be One Of Them. So I won't.
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