RPS Advent Calendar

aww was joint winner with aero one year

I jointly won the last year it was done on the forums. Or maybe it was joint second. Some position that netted me a sub for a year. Good times.

I always took far too long trying to decide on my list, so won't come up with a list this year. Not as familiar with the writers there now either, as I don't read it as regularly as I used to. Would struggle to pick what they would go with.

There is still good writers there, but, as with most sites, the focus is on deals and regurgitating press releases. You really don't need to delve much more into an article than the headline for probably 70% of what is being posted. As I say, that isn't just RPS, but they held onto not going too far down that route for longer than most.

They are, Aerothorn is still taking care of the guessing game which I've learned has been going for a decade now.

I have made the perhaps foolhardy decision to try and play all RPS Advent calendar games of 2022. Have played. I have actually already played about 7 of them* (and I suspect the final two will be Vampire Survivor and Elden Ring, making it 9). Another 5 are on Game Pass**, 1 I have as it was free on Epic*** and another I have access to my brother's PS5 copy****. That is just leaving 8 I have to buy*****, most of which I've just picked up today on the Steam Sale.

Just kicked this off with Who's Lila?. Blimey, this game is great. Some really cool stuff going on here that has been both a joy and legitimately creepy.



*Chinatown Detective Agency
Pentiment
Judgment
Persona 5
Return to Monkey Island
Tunic
Stray

**Grounded
Power Wash Sim
Norco
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Citizen Sleeper

***Saturnalia

****Ghostwire: Tokyo

*****Warhammer Chaos Gate Daemonhunters
Who's Lila - bought
Strange Horticulture - bought
Betrayal at Club Low - bought
Cult of the Lamb - bought
The Quarry
The Case of the Golden Idol - bought
Neon Light - bought

To be fair, the only one who really reviewed strategy games was Tim, and then there was that whole drama and he was gone.
Sin plays them from time to time, but more in the obscure/indie/retro vein.

I never really remember to check it now I'm not hanging out on the forum, but they still have some decent articles, or at least they did at the beginning of December.

The problem is that when you don't know the reviewers, it's hard to know how their taste maps onto yours. And I've lost track of most of their staff these days.
Then again, I mainly read OG RPS for the entertainment value rather than the buying advice. The Alices can be fun to read at times (if a little overdone), and Sin is always great, but I don't really have a feel for the other staff's personalities through their writing.

I still read RPS from time to time but I'm not the loyal reader I once was. Excepting Sin and the original Alice, I'm not really as interested in the current writers. On the other hand I haven't really found a worthwhile replacement to keep myself informed of what's going on in the world of PC gaming which is why I haven't completely given up on it.

Tim never reviewed mainstream strategy games just war games and sims.

Like going over recent Total War, XCOM, Civ, Paradox reviews on RPS you get; Fraser Brown (now at PC Gamer), Alec Meer (now writes for video games), Adam Smith (dunno where they've gone but they've gone) and Nate Crowley coming up most. Only Nate remains and I like Nate's writing but he mostly writes Black Library novels now, they've not really replaced any of them. The recent Victoria 3 review just read like someone who didn't know anything about Paradox games which wasn't a helpful review.

Going further back Jim did the strategy reviews back in the glory days of Kieron, Jim, Alec and John.

I just don't care about wholesome romance sims or text adventures and such. So it's not really for me much anymore. 

I get my strategy reviews from PC Gamer again all of a sudden, and Three Moves Ahead podcast.

Anyhow it's all just weird as yknow strategy games are an actual USP of PC Gaming, think pieces about God of War or Call of Duty guides are ten a penny on all video games websites.

Strategy has always been a weakspot for RPS. As already mentioned, Nate is probably the only one that really covered them with much authority and he has (partly) left now.

Dipped into Neon White from the advent list and very much my jam. I love a game that focuses on movement. The styling is quite cool, except for the weird overly sexy female characters. Not that that is anything wrong with sexy females, but this goes into awkward cringy territory regularly. Game play itself is a lot of fun though.