Midnight Ghost Hunt is the latest in a steadily lengthening line of Prop Hunt-inspired party games. There are two teams: the Ghosts, and the Hunters. The Ghosts can possess objects in the world to hide inside, and their job is to survive until midnight. The Hunters must use a variety of high-tech gadgets and weapons to track down and destroy the Ghosts before that time, or else risk being hunted themselves once midnight strikes.
The game is already out on Steam Early Access, and has been for a few weeks now. You’ll probably know already whether you’d be interested in giving it a go: after all, it’s Prop Hunt. But it’s also got a fair few more bells and whistles than other Prop Hunt-likes that I’ve come across. So, a group of us decided to get together one chill winter’s eve (sunny Friday morning actually, but hey, I’m tryna set a spooky tone), and bash each other’s heads with inanimate objects for a few hours. And judging from all the yelps and shouting, I’d say we had a good time.
]]>Matt and Nate have been playing Before We Leave, an aesthetically pleasing, non-violent citybuilder which nobody can seem to mention without also mentioning space whales. It's about little peglike people emerging onto the surface of a hexagon-covered sphere, after centuries living in a shelter underground. And it's also, inevitably, about gathering resources.
]]>Matt and Nate have been playing Ancient Enemy, a singleplayer card battler that looks a lot like a murderous version of Majhong, with a dash of Slay The Spire. It’s made by Shadowhand developers Grey Alien Games, and also RPS founder Jim Rossignol, but let’s not talk about him.
Nate: “Uno, but the Banner Saga”. That’s my take. It’s a game about knocking cards off a big pile, based on which ones have numbers one lower or higher than the one you’re holding. But you’re a depressed, tired wizard.
]]>Nate: The galaxy has been remade once again. Space opera strategy extravaganza Stellaris has a new DLC out, called Federations, and a massive free patch that overhauls a greater-than-usual number of the game's systems. Both the DLC and the patch focus hard on diplomacy, and so I thought it'd be a good idea to rope in a fellow space obsessive and see if, working together, we could befriend our way to dominion over the galaxy. (At this point, I'd like you to imagine regular contributor Nic Reuben smashing through the wall on a knackered space motorbike, before taking an open-necked chug on a can of space off-brand energy drink and throwing the can into a neutron star).
]]>Alice Bee: I have performed the summoning ritual (the ritual is: sending an email) and called errant skate boy Brendy back for one last job before retirement. It is, after all, time for the last episode of Life Is Strange 2, a harrowing road trip game about two brothers trying to make it from Washington state to Mexico. And since we started the journey together, it seems only right we should finish it together. Reader, there will be spoilers ahead, so mind you don't step in them.
What a journey it has been, eh? Last time, Sean Diaz rescued his magical little brother from an abusive Chrstian cult, and they burned down a church with their mam. But this fifth episode, "Wolves", was probably the most saddest so far, I think. Brendy, would you agree?
Brendan: I didn’t cry, but I did have a very lumpy gullet.
]]>Alice Bee: Hello Brendy and Nate! We're here to discuss what we ultimately think of Wilmot's Warehouse, our Can't Stop Playing for the month of September. Next week we will choose a brand new game, so as a final tribute we are here to deliver an RPS Verdict for the sweet organise-a-warehouse 'em up that is Wilmot.
We'd been planning to do this verdict chat on Wilmot's Warehouse for a while, but unfortunately one of you broke your collarbone, one of you got "a bit" of sepsis. As your line manager, I'm really impressed at your dedication, because you have both definitely, 100% genuinely turned up to still do this article with me. Nate, you reviewed doubyou's doubleyou for us, so why don't you kick us off here?
]]>Alice Bee: Hey Brendy. Why don’t you spark up a massive spliffer of weed-grass and join me here to talk about Life Is Strange 2: Episode 3. It’s called Wastelands, which I think might have a double meaning of some kind.
Brendan: Oh wow, it does. [Inhaling] Whoa.
Contains spoilers, dunnit
]]>Video Matthew: Court is now in session. I think we’re legally obliged to cram in naff legal references when writing about the Ace Attorney series. There is a very good chance this RPS chat-o-verdict will end with some horrible ‘any objections?’ type thing. We shall see. I have gathered us - by which I mean, you, Katharine - to discuss Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, an HD collection of the first three Ace Attorney games. We both played them to death (never convicted) on DS, and have been revisiting them on PC.
Katharine: OBJECTION!
Video Matthew: Oh great, here we go. What is it?
]]>Brendan: Hello, John. We have been playing Trials Rising. It is a extreme game about being extreme. Do you have time to talk about motorbicycles and all the amazing flips and flops that they can do?
John: Oh, I suppose so.
]]>Alice Bee: Hello Brendan. I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you, singular, here today. It is because we both played episode two of Life Is Strange 2, Rules. I am excited to talk to you about this because I think we might have had different outcomes this time. The Fabulous Diaz Brothers (™) had a hard time of it in the first episode (you can catch up with our previous verdict-o-chat on episode one). We opened on this one to find them camping out in an abandoned cabin, in the snow. Spoilers ahead, readers, and go carefully, for I know that Brendy is still emotionally raw from some of the events in the episode. How’re you holding up, B?
]]>The zombie remake first confounded Matt in his Resident Evil 2 review, before winning him over with its survival horror. Since then, two RPS folk who remember the 1998 original have had time to confront the undead. So what's our final verdict?
Brendan: Oh hello, Matt. Hi, Dave. Fancy meeting you two here, among these burning ambulances and smashed-up lamp posts. Raccoon City definitely isn’t what they advertised on the brochure, is it?
Matt: "Raccoon City" is a ridiculous name and time has somehow made you all forget this.
Dave: It could have had a more appropriate name, but then it wouldn’t be Resident Evil without the B-Movie schlock.
]]>Brendan: Hello, Alice. I’ve just been dandering along a quiet highway in Life Is Strange 2. There’s no time-travelling gal pals in this one (at least, none so far) but there is a sad psychic pre-teen and his hoody-wearing brother. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, you just played through it too, and we’re gonna have a chat about each episode as it comes along - what we liked, what we thought was dumb, who we think is secretly a murderer - rather than wait until the whole game is out to review it. I guess I’m explaining all this for our stinking readers. Hey readers. SPOILERS AHEAD.
]]>John: Hello. I’ve brought you here today to plan our next hei… I mean discuss the surprisingly involved point and click adventure game, Unavowed. A game by Wadjet Eye that I, in my review, argued advances the PnC genre forward in ways that few will ever be able to successfully copy - a blending of RPG and adventure to create a narrative-driven game that you’ll want to play again. But instead of playing it again, I made you two play it instead. So who did you play as, and what did you think?
]]>Pip and Adam are out in the wilds of GDC, hunting the grounds of the convention centre and the streets around for the most interesting people and games in the world today. In one dark room, in an unassuming building on a busy street, they found a crowd of virtual worlds.
This was the Oculus Rift Game Day, in which the VR devices were on display along with selected launch titles. From sport to slaughter and strategy to stealth-horror, here are our thoughts on the first wave of VR games. And our first verdict on the launch window and the all-important Touch controllers.
]]>Football Manager 2016 [official site] is out this Friday, but before we publish our review, Adam and Graham decided to gather in the RPS dugout to discuss this year's tactics, transfers and press room meltdowns.
Graham: I think I'd be pretty disappointed if I spent £35/$50 on Football Manager 2016.
]]>Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes [official site] is a co-op game for two or more people where one is faced with a bomb covered in symbols, buttons, mazes and counters, and everyone else is looking at a defusal manual. They must keep talking to solve those puzzles, or somebody explodes. Pip, Adam and Graham took it in turns to explode, then gathered themselves to discuss the finer points of bomb defusal.
Graham: Four symbols! Pig's tail; lightning bolt; apostrophe bum; triangle spiderman. In what order do I press them?
]]>Pip and Alice have been enjoying Life Is Strange [official site] and getting together for little chats about each episode of Dontnod Entertainment's coming-of-age time travel bonanza as they came out. Episode 5 wrapped everything up last week - or did it? - so they've come together one final time to chat about that, look at the series as a finished piece, and maybe even answer the big question: just how strange is life?
This chat is, of course, oozing spoilers from every teenage pore.
]]>Adam returned from below yesterday with his review, but Downwell [official site] has also pulled Graham into its depths. The pair pulled on a gunboot each to discuss the down-scrolling platformer's simplicity, its feels, and its flaws.
]]>We often lament that videogames are so often violent, but that doesn't mean that weapons can't feel so good when done right. Sometimes a single weapon can even make a game worth playing all on its own. Far Cry 2's bolt-action rifle? Resident Evil 4's Broken Butterfly revolver? Action Quake 2's Handcannon sawn-off shotgun? Those are Alice's, but Adam, Alec and Graham gathered to discuss their favourites - leave your own in the comments.
]]>No Rock, Paper, Shot Take this week, as we thought we'd try out a multi-topic chat about the week in PC gaming instead. Discussed: how to bring back Duke Nukem without it being a horrible mess, whether the Warcraft movie looks any good, whether any game moves are any good and the terrifying lure of idle games.
]]>Adam: Invisible, Inc. [official site] is a turn-based stealth game and there is absolutely no reason why turn-based stealth should be a thing that works as well as this does. It is also has procedurally generated tactical cyberpunk environments, which should be occasionally confusing and a pain in the backside but are almost always indistinguishable from hand-crafted puzzles latent with drama and tension.
It's both our Game of the Month and my favourite game since Crusader Kings II! What do we all think?
]]>Grand Theft Auto V [official site] is our Game of the Month for May. To steal its jewels and show them to you, a crack team of criminals - Adam, Alice, Pip and Graham - gathered inside the RPS safehouse to gaze over the blueprints, outline their crimes, and discuss how much they like driving within the speed limit.
Graham: I am wondering: how do people feel about the game-game part of GTA V? I'm wondering whether our warm feelings towards it have more to do with Los Santos as a place for exploration and japes than it does its cinematic story and crim sim noise.
Or rather, since I enjoy the missions quite a bit, whether I'm the only one.
]]>A floating speech bubble appears over Videogame City, signalling that the citizens are demanding something. Clicking on it reveals the source of problem: "Not enough good city builders." It seems all that have been built so far are poorly connected to the (road) network, too small to cater to the growing population, and otherwise stocked too poorly with what people want.
Best construct Cities: Skylines [official site]. It has huge cities, mod support and works offline, but is it doing more than simply filling a hole created by its peers? John, Alec, Adam, Pip and Graham gathered to discuss why it's the RPS' Game of the Month for April.
]]>There's a Meerman, waiting over there, he'd like to come and talk to Adam about Civilization: Beyond Earth but he thinks it'll take some time.
]]>Games, games, games. There were so many of them, and then all of a sudden there were none. None being screeched and broadcast from the LA convention centre, at least. Another E3 is done and dusted, and now we must ruminate upon what we have seen, what we have enjoyed, and what we truly believe. Having already held forth about the initial flurry of big-publisher announcements, Adam, Alec, Alice and Graham now reconvene to celebrate and pick apart what the rest of the enormo-event yielded, and to name their favourite games of the show. Discussed: The Sims, Elite, Rainbow Six, Homefront, GTA V, Dreadnought, Applying For A Mortgage Simulators and even that company that makes videogames about plumbers.
]]>In a bunker deep beneath the blighted surface of The United Blokes Of Great Britain For 100% British Blokes Only, at the halfway point between Brighton and Manchester, Alec and Adam shelter from Farage's dread Lager Sentinels and think of an alternate reality where Osborne hadn't privatised oxygen to the highest bidder at Bilderberg and Milliband hadn't ordered that we all eat bacon sandwiches via our ears. If only some lost hero could arise and save them from this terror.
While they waited for salvation that would never come, they cast their minds back to a videogame they once played. A videogame about fighting Nazis, and Nazi dogs, and robot Nazi dogs. A videogame named 'Wolfenstein: The New Order.' Perhaps discussing it would remind them of better times. As their miserable existences might end at any second, they did not even try to avoid massive spoilers.
]]>From the distant, waterlogged land of Bath Spa, John Walker sits at a keyboard and dreams of another world. A world by the sea. A world where 95% of its male population are bearded and wear Converse. Untold distances away, in said sea-neighbouring world of Brighton, Alec Meer also sits at a keyboard and imagines a tourist-besieged town made up of yellow buildings and fading magazine publishers.
Somehow, the two writers' minds reach each other across the gulf of space and time. And they have something they must discuss: Double Fine's Kickstarted revivalist adventure game, Broken Age, whose first 'Act' was released last week. They talk of its two lead characters, they talk of its unfinished nature, they talk of its puzzles, they talk of what they wanted but what they got, they talk of shrunken heads and peaches.
]]>Jim and Adam sat down over a pint of internet to discuss the recently released imperial epic, Rome II. They had things on their mind.
Jim: So then. I am usually in the Total War apologist camp, but not this time. I am not sure if it's because I had a better experience with Shogun 2, or whether there's some kind of allergy due to over-exposure going on, but Rome II rubbed me up the wrong druid.
]]>Earlier today four RPS writers - each of them deep into their second runs through Dishonored - sat down to have a chat about Arkane's revenge-filled game of assassination and invisibility. Here's what they said. [We've avoided any major plot spoilers, keeping mostly to mechanics and a bit of world/setting discussion. We will have a spoilery discussion coming up later in the week.]
Jim: Gentlemen, we have entered the era where Dishonored is a game that people can play. Would any care to describe what they think Dishonored is?
]]>And lo did the two RPS Hivemind nodes who would always be picked first in any alphabetical order-based selection process gather to discuss Paradox/Ino-Co Plus' turn-based, Master of Magic-esque strategy game Warlock: Master of the Arcane. Adam and Alec spaketh words at each other. Occasionally, they even listened to each other. To what end? Not a soul doth know. Here are those words.
Alec: WARLOCK: MASTER OF THE ARCANE is a turn-based strategy game about fantasy kingdoms at war that came out a little while back, but is one of those increasingly rare cases where more than one of us have played it. You've played tons of it, right?
Adam:Tons. If you could actually measure it as a weight or mass it would be like a spoonful of Mercury, or whichever that planet is. The one that the Flaming Lips sang about.
Alec: I think they sing about all of them, all the time, in quadraphonic sound.
]]>Alec and Adam lurked on opposite sides of the supermarket car park, lying on their bellies, waiting, watching. Each knew the other was out there somewhere - but where? Slowly, they crawled forwards, occasionally hiding behind a trolley rack or starting as an orange plastic bag fluttered past in the gentle evening breeze. Suddenly, Alec was caught in the light of a cash machine, and Adam wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. He reached to his side, and brought up his specially-silenced keyboard. 'Meer!' he shouted. 'You can't run any longer. It's too late for you now. It's time. Time to talk about what we each made of Jagged Alliance: Back In Action.' Alec froze, hesistated. He thought about making a break for the pool of darkness behind the wheelie bins, but finally he accepted that he could be fugitive no longer. 'Alright, Smith, you've got a deal! But keep those hands where I can see them.'
]]>Deus Ex: Human Revolution is out in the UK today! Jim, Kieron, Alec, and John have assembled to pass judgement on it. They like it. They like it a lot. But not without reservation. Read on to hear about why a wall is a man's best augment, and why Kieron is feeling all dirty after kissing Geralt.
SPOILER WARNING: There are minor plot spoilers within. Endings and plot twists are not discussed, but there are a number of narrative elements mentioned as well as a few mechanical spoilers. Just beware. You know. As usual.
]]>It feels like a long time since Jim delivered his thoughts on The Witcher 2, and we've all meaning to come back to it. Now Jim, Richard, and Kieron get together to compare considered opinions (and bedpost notches) on one of the most important games of the year. There are many, many spoilers ahead.
Jim: The Witcher 2: this year's witchiest RPG has been played by we three men, and now those men aim to discuss it. Kieron, would you like to tell us what you think The Witcher 2 is?
]]>Brink is here, and we've been playing it. We've even got some servers up. But what do Alec, Jim, and Quintin actually think about it? Let's find out.
Jim: Brink then, the long-awaited multiplayer shooter from British devs Splash Damage. Everyone had a bit of a play?
Quintin: I have shot so many men.
]]>Jim and Alec have been dipping their toes in the Red River. This second Operation Flashpoint from Codemasters' internal studio once again returns to sprawling landscapes and manshooter action, but this time seems a little more refined. That said, critical responses to the game once again seem negative. Is that justified? Or is there some value in this desert manshoot? Read on for manshoot eludication.
]]>The RPS collective (and Kieron Gillen) convened to discuss Portal 2. What did we make of Valve's puzzle palace? And was it really the funniest game of all time? Read on for answers. (Mild spoilers!)
Jim: Portal 2: The sequel to the first person puzzler Portal. It's Valve's first full length game since Half-Life 2! That is an exciting thing, if ever I heard one. Quintin: And their best single-player game ever, according to John's interview. Jim: So according to them. Do we agree?
]]>Following on from Jim's individual discussion of RUSE, the RPS high-fiving fraternity elected to spend some time getting to grips with Eugen Systems' latest RTS, and discovered they rather liked it. It was time for a verdict. But what would the collective verdict be? And were they wise to the tricks and traps the game laid out for them? And why was John on holiday? Did anyone care? There were so many unanswered questions. Read on to discover...
Jim: RUSE: A real-time strategy that seems to have surprised people. Did it surprise you guys? It surprised me. Kieron: It certainly surprise attack-bonused me. Regularly. But I suspect we'll get to that. Quintin: I had no faith whatsoever in it before I played it. Not entirely sure why. So yes, I was surprised. Alarmed, even.
]]>It's been a while since we got together to do a verdict. That splendid Deus Ex anniversary seems like the right kind of time to do so. Below we judge the game, ten years on. Does it live up to the legend?
]]>We've played Gearbox's fancy-lookin' "role-playing shooter", Borderlands, and we're ready for a verdict. What will we have to say?
Jim: Who wants to try to define the game in a single sentence then, eh? Kieron: Hellgate in a desert, but not shit. Alec: There's some sort definition involving the words "Diablo" and "guns", but I can't work out how to stick them together.
]]>We've been playing Zeno Clash. Developers Ace Team were kind enough to suggest that we should furnish you with the world's first review of their insane beat 'em up. Our razor-sharp analysis of defeating elephantmen and bludgeoning lunatics follows.
Jim: Right, our subject today is the esoteric fist 'em up, Zeno Clash, by Chilean types, Ace Team. Alec: I liked the bit where I repeatedly punched a bird-man in the face. Jim: Bird-men are scum. Kieron: Shall I do a brief fact-o-list of the game so we have the FACTS on the table? Jim: Yes, facts, because facts are super-true.
]]>Jim: Okay, a quick verdict. “The Spore Creature Creator is quite good.” Anyone have anything else to add? Kieron: I concur. John: You can make knobs. Jim: Actually it's a shame that our penis coverage, so to speak, has eclipsed the other clever creations. Kieron: Yeah - I actually feel a little guilt on this. There's a selection of genuinely awesome stuff out there - the ED209s, the planes, the chairs... Alec: The legs aren't great. John: I had a desire to make a sofa, but it never really worked out.
]]>You find our bickering crew mid-insult, as they talk bad about John's mum and make fun of Kieron's general confusion in the face of existence. But there's a purpose to this gathering, and it's to discuss the most recent Trackmania games. Let's see how we get on.
John: We should totally print this. A verdict on how Kieron can't do jokes. Kieron: Kieron can't read, Thankyou. Jim: I have no idea what game we're verdicting - Trackmania Unified Nations Forever United? Kieron: United? John: United's a year old game. Alec: Nations Forever is free. United Forever is the latest retail version. Jim: Forever Nations Mania TrackNited? Kieron: Yeah, we're lost. Can we just have a verdict on their ludicrously stupid naming scheme?
]]>Kieron: Ready? Jim: Ready. Kieron: Okay. I stick on Mogwai Fears Satan, as it's the most piece of SPACE WAR music I have to hand. And let's consider Sins Of A Solar Empire, the game people are literally calling “Sins Of A Solar Empire”. It's a Space-based RTS from some guys who we mainly know for Homeworld Cataclysm, published by the guys who made Gal Civ 2. As the lineage may suggest, it's an enormous Space War game which mashes a load of Gal-Civ-esque elements into a more traditional RTS. I've played it since the Beta. What about you, Jim? Jim: Hmm, well I tend to go for more Lustmord when in spacewar. I like that alien-thunder in the depths of space vibe, plus I'm secretly a goth from Manchester. Anyway, I've been playing the game since it arrived on my desk a few weeks ago.
]]>It's verdict time again and we've all been playing Warhammer 40k: Dawn Of War – Soulstorm. It's Real Time Strategy in that distant universe where the warring space folks are all vaguely analogous to fantasy archetypes. Hmm. Let's see what we thought of it.
John : Jim. I've heard something about a game called Warhammer: 40,000,000,000 Mark of Chaos: Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Tell us about it. Jim : Ok, Soulstorm is the ninety fifth expansion pack for Dawn of War, I think? And it's ONLY WAR in there. No making friends, no talking to the monsters. It's RTS explosions n stuff, with nine races from the Games Workshop codices of miniature armament. Imagine that! Kieron : (Count 'em!)
]]>Like some sort of lumbering clockwork giant, the RPS Hivemind has duly constructed the second instalment of its new Monday feature - discussing a recent game of note, then casting a vote upon its worth. No ludicrous letter-based scoring systems here, though - simply, to buy, or not to buy? That is our question.
This time around, it's award-winning synaesthesia game Audiosurf. We've waffled about it a fair bit on RPS previously, so you'd presume we all loved it, right? You may be surprised. You may be less surprised to see our thin veil of camaraderie ripped aside to reveal the snidey barbs, self-interest and hypocrisy beneath. Rock, Paper, Shotgun - like an old, married couple arguing about groceries.
]]>We've been trying to work out a way to do something a little more like reviews on RPS for a while, without actually doing anything as boring as that. We've come up with this: The RPS Verdict. The idea is simple. We take a recently released game that most of us have played and just have a little chat about it. Those who haven't played it act like an interested party, asking whatever questions come to mind. Then, at the end, we pose a single question to the panel: Would you buy it? Also, add jokes to season, as is our wont, and lob up here.
We thought we'd start this new tradition with the recently-released shooter, The Club.
]]>
![קודי רכבת סטאר של Honkai [דצמבר 2024]](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/honkai-star-rail-bronya-fu-xuan.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp "קודי רכבת סטאר של Honkai [דצמבר 2024]")
