Can you believe we didn't have a best JRPG list until now? Baffling. To be fair we did once tackle this topic with a preliminary blast of recommendations for those completely new to the genre. We also have a few familiar fantasys in our list of the 50 best RPGs on PC. But until now we haven't addressed the genre in its own right. In an act of contrition, we offer you this: our list of the best JRPGs you can play on PC this year, according to our own tastes.
]]>It’s episode 12 of Indiescovery and this week we’re being a bit cheeky as we dive into which indie game characters we’d love to do a pub crawl with. Who are we getting sloshed with? Who’s not making it past pre-drinks? Who are we sharing our end-of-night chippies with? All that and more this week! Summer has well and truly arrived here in the UK, but wherever you are, grab your sunnies, sip a pina colada, kick back, and have a listen.
Listen and subscribe via your podcast provider of choice! Find us on RSS feed, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Deezer, and YouTube.
]]>Whoooo we’re officially in the double-digits gang! We’ve somehow managed to make it to episode 10 of Indiescovery without going completely feral and wrecking the joint. I say that, but this week’s episode is a little, shall we say, unhinged? Rebecca, Liam, and Rachel hadn’t really had a proper chat all week so there’s a lot of Friday energy and catching up, and the energy levels only increase when we start to talk about our main topic of this episode: Eurovision! And indie games, of course.
]]>We’re one episode away from being in the double digits, folks! Whoop! But for now, let’s dive into episode nine of Indiescovery. This time we're chatting about our biggest Steam sins. That’s right, we’re revealing it all: shamefully ignored indie gems, outrageous playtimes, and games that we promise we’ll return to one day, honest! We also get into what we’ve been recently playing and then end, as always, with our hyperfixations.
]]>March means Springtime has begun and it’s finally time to say goodbye to Winter - and a fresh batch of Game Pass leavers. This month’s leaving soon list is bulkier than usual, with games such as Guardians Of The Galaxy, Goat Simulator, and Undertale all waving goodbye on March 15/16th.
]]>How time flies, eh? We were so busy putting together The RPS 100 last month (including the first ever Reader Edition), that we clean ran out of time to do another RPS Time Capsule. But fear not! Our written repository of games we've deemed worthy of saving from the eternal hell bin of the future has returned, and this time it's a good 'un. The year is 2015, folks, and cor, has there ever been a better year for video games? Of course, with only 11 slots to fill in our RPS Time Capsule, it also means we're having to say goodbye to some real gems. Come and see what's transcended to the higher plane of Capsule existence.
]]>It’s been just about a year since Chapter 2 of Deltarune was released for free, but we won’t be seeing any more from the game this year. That’s the message from dev Toby Fox, who’s posted an update on how Deltarune’s coming along. Fox’s message to those eagerly awaiting more from the game was published to mark the seventh anniversary of his indie RPG smash Undertale. It shares some new screens, GIFs, a video and even some tunes.
]]>Unlike the cheeky surprise release of its first free chapter back in 2018, we got a warning about Deltarune Chapter 2. It's out now, also free, because creator Toby Fox says the world has been tough enough lately. The not-a-sequel-or-prequel-but-sort-of-related game to Fox's hit RPG Undertale is still a work in progress, but the newest chunk of story should hopefully keep fans busy chatting and hunting for secrets for a while yet. It may indeed be a while, once again. Fox plans to release chapters three through five as a paid release when they're finished but even he doesn't know when that will be just yet.
]]>This week we'll get to play the second chapter of Deltarune, the neither-sequel-nor-prequel-but-maybe-related follow-up to Undertale, creator Toby Fox has announced. Surprise!
]]>You know how your parents will invite you over for that one meal that's best when they make it, letting you totally stuff your face before telling you there's dessert too? That's this month on Xbox Game Pass for PC. Microsoft have already packed the service full of some favorite Bethesda games just last week. But wait, they're serving up even more good games for their subscription library before March is over. Please, Microsoft, I can't eat another byte.
]]>Whether you prefer wizards, sword-and-board warriors, the irradiated wasteland, vampires, or isometric text-heavy stories, the RPG is the genre that will never let you down. Accross the dizzing number of games available where you can play a role, there's something for everyone - and we've tried to reflect that in our list of the best RPGs on PC. The past couple of years have been great for RPGs, so there are some absolute classics as well as brand spanking new games on this list. And there's more to look forwards to, with rumblings of Dragon Age: Dread Wolf finally on the horizon, and space epic Starfield in our rear view mirror. Whatever else may happen, though, this list will provide you with the 50 best RPGs that you can download and play on PC right now.
]]>It's been five years since Toby Fox graced our lives with Undertale, so let's watch a concert to celebrate. Streamed last night, Undertale's Fifth Anniversary concert saw the Music Engine orchestra perform songs from the soundtrack for over two hours, as well as piano performances from Toby Fox himself.
Fox also took the anniversary as an opportunity to provide an update on second chapter of Deltarune, the next part of his quirky, twisty RPG series.
]]>The human race evolved the facial expression known as the “smile” because we needed a way to silently communicate satisfaction to other members of our species. So we decided to bare our teeth at one another and squint. This stuck, and now even the characters of your favourite digital storyderby are doing it. It’s sort of disgusting, and yet… you know what, I like it. Here are the 11 best smiles in PC games.
]]>It's been an eventful decade for PC games, and it would be hard for you to summarise everything that's happened in the medium across the past ten years. Hard for you, but a day's work for us. Below you'll find our picks for the 50 greatest games released on PC across the past decade.
]]>The thing about Undertale is, I’m not sure I have many more words to say about it. Why am I electing to write more then, I hear you ask? Well, you hear me reply, it impacted me in a very profound way at a time in my life when I felt very depressed and very impressionable. Being a massive emo about Undertale is where I found my start in games journalism. It’s stuck around in my mind ever since.
]]>While it's easy to think of Undertale (and its follow-up, Deltarune) as a one-man project, there's a very talented team behind it. Today, artist Temmie Chang released a small game, Escaped Chasm, a short story about a sad young girl alone in her house, haunted by dreams of a magical world. It's heartfelt, full of great art, some very good full-screen animations, and even crams four possible endings into its roughly-half-hour play-time. It's also free, and to say more would be risking spoilers. So go and give it a spin here on Itch, then check out the trailer and my thoughts below.
]]>If you’ve choosed-and-adventured through Bandersnatch, the recent Black Mirror thing on Netflix, and aren’t already a fan of experimental interactive fiction: I envy you. It means you’re able to play actually good examples of interactive fiction for the first time.
Sure, Bandersnatch has funny lines, surprises and scene stealing performances from Will Poulter doing a “pretty much exactly how I, the writer, talk in real life” voice. But as a whole, video games have been iterating deeper on the main themes of control, authenticity, forced choice, meta-recursion and non-linearity for years, without also including an unhelpful portrayal of paranoid schizophrenia. When you love enough people who hear voices and suffer from castigatory delusions, maybe you become less enthused about media which depicts sufferers committing murders or throwing themselves off buildings. Fix it, Brooker. The same plotpoint was in White Christmas and it was shit back then.
]]>From Undertale to Deltarune, it only stands to reason that the next project for Toby Fox and pals would be promoting Japanese wrestling. No, really. Released on Youtube on new year's eve, bizarre Undertale-styled video short Kenny's Quest was meant to air before Canadian wrestler Kenny Omega threw down with his rival Hiroshi Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome on Friday. Unfortunately plans changed at the last minute, and the clip won't be shown live, so it went up early for us to enjoy. Pin your hopes and dreams on the wrestlemen below.
]]>It may be quite sometime before we see the rest of Toby Fox's Deltarune, the Undertale creator has said after this week surprising us with a downloadable 'survey' which turned out to be the three-hour opening chapter of his new RPG. With Deltarune proving much more ambitious, Fox says he's planning to assemble a full team to help him make it. As for whether Deltarune is a sequel to Undertale or a prequel or... "Please don't worry too much about that," he says. It just is.
]]>The dust is now settling on Undertale creator Toby Fox's grand Halloween surprise. Disguised as a spookily-themed survey for a possible future project, Deltarune - a free, hours-long comedy RPG and first chapter in a new Undertale story - was foisted upon an unsuspecting internet. It was accompanied by a polite note asking that people don't discuss it openly until 24 hours had passed. Now I can share my thoughts on what it is, and what is yet to come. Beware - from this point on, (hopefully mild) spoilers await. I'd suggest going in blind and playing it for yourself first.
]]>PSA update: Toby Fox has warned that the uninstaller may delete more than intended, so just delete it manually instead of uninstalling once you're done.
"FOR PUBLIC SAFETY, YOU ARE ADVISED TO REFRAIN FROM DISCUSSION OF THE PROGRAM FOR 24 HOURS," Undertale creator Toby Fox says about his mysterious new... thing. I wouldn't want to broadcast hazardous information willy-nilly, so I'll refrain from that and simply say that the new thing seems to be named Deltarune and Fox wants you to download and run a... thing. It's a survey, he says. For those willing to take their lives in their hands and read dangerous information, I'll explain more.
]]>Undertale's spectacular soundtrack has found a new home today, in an unlikely partnership with old arcade studio Taito and their minimalist rhythm game Groove Coaster. Being that these are two games I regularly return to (although Groove Coaster mostly lives on my phone), it's a pairing I'm plenty happy with. While sadly only four tracks, they've picked some good ones for this DLC, and the levels they're wrapped around are appropriately themed. Below, a cute trailer featuring our favourite lazy skeleton trying his hand at DJ'ing. Minor Undertale spoilers below, too.
]]>It's hard to believe that it's been two and a half years since Undertale was the talk of the town. While pangs of early nostalgia are still easy to feel, a recent return to the underground reminded me that yes, it really was every bit as good as the hype suggested. Possibly moreso, even - it's a modern classic, which makes it quite unsurprising that its fans are still picking it apart and reassembling it in fun new ways.
Undertale's fans continue to be an industrious and driven lot, using the game's rich blend of gameplay systems and easily-written characters to piece together their own stories inspired by Toby Fox's low-fi RPG opus. Among them, a full-length Team Fortress 2-themed retelling of the tale. Step inside for a tour of this and other great free games you could play today.
]]>You’d think we could agree on four simple letters. But nothing is ever straightforward on RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. This week the gang are talking JRPGs, or Japanese role-playing games to use some real words for human people. Does a game have to be made in Japan to be defined as an JRPG? Or does it just need some bright colours and lots of turn-based battles? Maybe it only needs a boss behind a boss (and then another boss behind that one)? Come with us into the petty world of the genre bouncer, as we examine the shoes of dozens of games and decide whether or not they’re allowed into the JRPG nightclub.
]]>We've already seen which games sold best on Steam last year, but a perhaps more meaningful insight into movin' and a-shakin' in PC-land is the games that people feel warmest and snuggliest about. To that end, Valve have announced the winners of the 2017 Steam Awards, a fully community-voted affair which names the most-loved games across categories including best post-launch support, most player agency, exceeding pre-release expectations and most head-messing-with. Vintage cartoon-themed reflex-tester Cuphead leads the charge with two gongs, but ol' Plunkbat and The Witcher series also do rather well - as do a host of other games from 2017's great and good.
Full winners and runners-up below, with links to our previous coverage of each game if you're so-minded. Plus: I reveal which game I'd have gone for in each category.
]]>Hiveswap [official site], an adventure game based on megahit webcomic Homestuck, is finally genuinely almost here for real after several years of development hiccups and delays. September 14th is really the release date for Act 1, developers What Pumpkin Games have announced. Hiveswap is a '90s-style laff-o-adventure set in the world of Homestuck but not directly adapting it, so prior knowledge is unnecessary. Homestuck isn't to my tastes but I am still impressed by how it was a webcomic which could only be on the web, seamlessly splashing in animations and videos and games and other technobits. But here, see what Hiveswap is about in this new trailer:
]]>Not only does a great hero need a great villain, villains are usually just so much more fun. Whether it's the tortured lost soul who can only find peace by destroying the universe or the cheery psychopath looking to see the world burn, it's no wonder that many of the greatest films of all time have been defined at least as much by the baddie as any individual scene. Darth Vader, the Terminator, Norman Bates, Dracula... villains get people excited. A great villain lives forever, death be damned.
]]>So, a confession. My plan for this week was to talk about Obsidian's Tyranny [official site] - the game, not any rumours of Feargus Urquhart openly stealing puddings from the company fridge no matter how well labelled! Unfortunately, that plan hit a tiny snag... I haven't had a chance to play much of it yet. A shame, simply because the genre is well overdue a game that, to quote, Kakos Industries, Does Evil Better.
This week then, a tribute to and call out for the games that at least did evil interesting.
]]>Undertale [official site] launched a year ago today, and creator Toby Fox thinks the same of it now as he did then: "It's about an 8/10, niche RPG game."
Fox hadn't expected - or wanted - it to become so popular, he's explained in a blog post marking the anniversary. Well! Cobbo straight-up said "You should play Undertale", our Wot I Think was glowing, Adam tried to persuade the hesitant, and... certain Internauts split into fanatically pro- and anti-Undertale factions. It's been a weird year for Fox, and his reflections on it all are an interesting read.
]]>A chum's been playing dark fairytale adventure/RPG The Count Lucanor and urged me to take a look at it, worried that it wasn't being talked about anywhere. I had to be held down forcibly in my chair while feverishly struggling to escape from the chiptune Bach soundtrack, but that aside I agree that there's something a little bit special here.
If you fell for Undertale and have been wondering where to go next, this agreeably unpredictable meld of cute'n'sinister might just the answer.
]]>The 18th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards have just wrapped up, with the 16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards to follow shortly. I was at the ceremony, which took place in a preposterously large ballroom within the conference centre in San Francisco. You can find a full list of the winners, nominees and my thoughts on the outcome below.
]]>Spoiler alert, RPGs are kinda ridiculous. Most games are, of course. While the Mythbusters may have shown that carrying Doomguy's loadout into battle isn't as bad as it might sound, there's a reason they've never done a follow-up about doing it after taking a few rockets to the face. Likewise, we can't know the effect of glugging down fifty health potions a day, but it must mean a lot of pauses for the heroic knight to hurriedly get his armour off for a quick pee-break.
Like a lot of things, there's a line here - on one side, things that are interesting to see a game justify, and on the other, things that are probably best handwaved. Where does that line lie?
]]>For most games, patch notes that read "Updated on Steam to fix bugs and increase compatibility" would be a nonstarter. Ignorable. Useless.
But Undertale [official site] is not most games. More importantly, Undertale's community is not like most communities. And thus Undertale's Patch 1.001 bug fixes and increased compatibilities have been picked apart over the last couple days to reveal secret spaghetti or other such nonsense. Spoilers ahead.
]]>The Independent Games Festival turns up few surprises these days, and that's okay. The term 'indie games' is banned by my hypothetical RPS Style Guide as they're now so ubiquitous that they're just, well, video games [two words -hypothetical ed.], y'know? Heck, we ourselves have already implored you to play most of this year's IGF Finalists and Honorable Mentions, which were announced today. The IGF might not uncover a previously-unknown Next Big Thing, but it's a fine reminder of fine games.
]]>What's the funniest game of 2015? The RPS Advent Calendar highlights our favourite games from throughout the year, and behind today's door is...
]]>As the dragons finally return to their nests to hibernate and the ghosts don their chains to help remind misers of the meaning of the season, we approach the end of another year. As is tradition, that is time for we at the guild-house to award both quests and questers the ceremonial Scrolls of Honour™. (Chorus of affordable angels)
Scribed upon only the finest vellum in ink taken from a particularly recalcitrant octopus from the Abyssal Depths, they are a testament to skill and imagination and occasional disappointments that mean exactly nothing whatsoever except that I have a column and so I can hand out whatever made-up crap takes my fancy. Lo! We begin!
]]>Undertale [official site] is a brilliant game and I want everyone to play it. I worry that people will think it's so deeply rooted in nostalgia that they'll need a degree in RPGs to enjoy it, or that it's a series of quirky in-jokes. It isn't but I don't want to tell you precisely what it is - I want you to see for yourself. To that end, I've had a big conversation with myself to answer some doubts concerns that those of you who haven't yet played might be harbouring. There are no spoilers.
]]>You can defeat Game of the Month by pointing out that it's running a week late, but you could also progress by claiming friendship and offering Game of the Month a hug. As it is here, so it is in inventive, uplifting RPG Undertale [official site]. As a human cast down into monster territory, you must explore and quest and combat, but can do all of them with kindness instead of violence. Drawing plentiful comparisons to EarthBound, it's the one game you should play this month if you only have time to play one.
]]>Merry weekend, one and all! May you have a wonderful Saturday, and a calm Boxing Day. Why, perhaps you'll even manage to get away from your friends, families, and loved ones after dinner to squeeze in a cheeky video game or two before you all wrap up and head out carolling! Here's what we'll be playing when we can sneak away:
]]>I double-take when I see the sign on the front of the library. Something feels off, and I peer at the screen, and there’s definitely an extra letter that’s snuck in there somewhere. The little town of Snowdin is, as the name suggests, blanketed in thick snow, and the lights in the windows of the library look warm. Inside, the librarian looks up at me tiredly. “Welcome to Snowdin library,” she says. “Yes, we know the sign is mis-spelled.”
There is something irrepressibly charming about this.
Undertale [official site], a game made mostly by Toby Fox, begins with a muted cutscene that feels immediately and deliberately evocative of The Wind Waker’s opening mural. “Long ago,” read the subtitles, “two races ruled over earth. HUMANS and MONSTERS.” And then there’s a little picture: a horned furry creature on the left and a cloaked human on the right. The human is holding a spear. The stage continues to be set with that particular blunt efficiency of the older Zelda games; there was a war, the monsters were defeated, they were sealed beneath the mountain. Years pass. A human child, the protagonist, climbs a mountain and falls down an enormous hole. Then the game begins.
]]>You should play Undertale [official site]. It's not had much attention since it came out last week, and that's a real shame, because it's one of the sweetest, darkest, funniest RPGs I've played in ages. It's rare to find a genuinely funny game, and rarer still to spend several hours laughing and laughing. My only problem with trying to give it its proper due is that by doing so, well, I inevitably have to spoil things. So, if you're in the mood for a sweet, dark, funny RPG that's not just about meta references and jokes about XP being stupid, you go check it out, right now, and I'll see you next week.
If you need a little more than that, hmm. How to describe it without saying too much? Aaah, I know. It's a bit like Earthbound, only with the big difference that most of the people with nice things to say about it have actually played it. (No, five minutes with a ROM doesn't count.) And like Earthbound, you'll kick yourself if you miss it now.
]]>Many games nowadays are keen to tell you they'll remember your decisions, but the old demo for Undertale [official site] is one of the few games I've seen that remembered everything - across all playthroughs. It's a surreal and charming RPG about a human trapped in a world of monsters where, sure, you could battle 'em, or you could chat and cheer and flirt with them instead. And, in the demo it least, it remembered and offered a few unpleasant twists on later playthroughs.
Two years after its Kickstarter, Undertale launched today. What surprises await?
]]>I checked out Undertale's demo last week and I strongly suggest that you do the same. It's in the category of games that I'd call 'surrole-playing games weird RPGs', an unruly gang containing the likes of Space Funeral, unexpected adventures that revel in their retro postmodernism. As well as a surreal, funny and touching story, Undertale has random encounters that are actually fun, with a smart bullet hell (or at least bullet heck) minigame to settle combat. But there's no need for fisticuffs at all because every encounter can be settled through conversation and understanding of body language, which is slightly more difficult when your opponent is a sexy jelly. The Kickstarter has almost hit its $5,000 goal in the time it took me to go to the shops, return and make a sandwich. Still, take a look.
I had been playing Undertale's free demo for two minutes when the memory of Space Funeral popped into my mind like a drunken Jack in the Box. Ten minutes later, I was ready to quit and around half an hour after that I'd completed the demo, which is a complete short story, and was glad that I'd persisted. It's a weird adventure in the style of a JRPG, with random encounters, a silent protagonist, single room puzzles and turn-based combat. Stick with the demo through the alternately bizarre and bland opening minutes, and there's a tiny world of wonder. If you don't play until the depressed ghost makes an appearance, you have seen nothing.
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