Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The RPS Important Advent Calendar 2010

By RPS on December 30th, 2010 at 10:40 am.

Looking for something to read? Peruse our calendar of the year’s best PC games!

It’s back! The ultimate Christmas list of games on the PC that were okay, or better: The RPS Advent Christmas Games Calendar Of Games! Yes, it’s the countdown to the origination day of RPS Sponsor Deity, Horace The Endless Bear, the Space God who gave man the gift of video computer systems. Praise him, praise him.

John drew this. All glory to the Walkerman.
We will be updating the calendar with click functionality day by day. Amazing technology for all.

(And if you just want a list of the games, you’ll find them below…)

Day 1: Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Day 2: Just Cause 2.
Day 3: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Day 4: Space Funeral.
Day 5: Neptune’s Pride.
Day 6: Dead Rising 2.
Day 7: VVVVVV
Day 8: Digital: A Love Story.
Day 9: Bioshock 2.
Day 10: Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Day 11: Plain Sight.
Day 12: Dragon Age: Awakening.
Day 13: Alien Swarm.
Day 14: Metro 2033.
Day 15: Warhammer 40,000 Dawn Of War 2: Chaos Rising
Day 16: Sleep Is Death.
Day 17: Desktop Dungeons.
Day 18: Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light.
Day 19: R.U.S.E.
Day 20: Super Meat Boy.
Day 21: Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty.
Day 22: Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Day 23: Mass Effect 2.
Day 24: Minecraft.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and all that.

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99 Comments »

  1. 01/12/2010 at 12:08 Lambchops says:

    Hooray for Horace. His infinity is awe inspiring.

  2. 01/12/2010 at 12:09 Jonathan says:

    Yay for the advent calendar!

  3. 01/12/2010 at 12:10 SquareWheel says:

    THE PICTURE WON’T CLICK

  4. 01/12/2010 at 12:11 dartt says:

    Hail Horace, bringer of games.

  5. 01/12/2010 at 12:16 terry says:

    If Super Meat Boy isn’t hidden in there somewhere I will eat my hat (and someone else’s, for good measure).

  6. 01/12/2010 at 12:16 James says:

    This is SO fancy! Praise Horace.

  7. 01/12/2010 at 12:17 TooNu says:

    Weee! the RPS advent!! awesomeness :D

  8. 01/12/2010 at 12:20 Auspex says:

    Yay! Good drawing John though Alec looks even more like a WoW gnome than usual (love you Alec!) and you’ve made Quinns much hotter than he is IRL.

  9. 01/12/2010 at 12:45 SAeN says:

    I swear I can see one end of Horace, praise be his name.

  10. 01/12/2010 at 12:47 Ian says:

    So just how infinite is Horace?

    • 01/12/2010 at 12:51 John Walker says:

      Well, he definitely goes all the way up that chimney.

    • 01/12/2010 at 13:11 Jonathan says:

      The question becomes “How long is the chimney?”

    • 01/12/2010 at 14:17 MarkSide says:

      Surely no chimney can be long enough to contain all of Horace’s bountiful infiniteness!

      I think the presence of the chimney serves the allegorical nature of the picture. We can only see Horace’s head and shoulders poking out of the fireplace, echoing the fact that, though we may see a little of Horace, the vastness of his infinite being cannot be grasped by our meagre human minds and therefore remains hidden. For, while Horace extends forever, we are constrained by the laws of the universe, being, comparatively, as 2-dimensional faces trapped behind glass.

    • 02/12/2010 at 07:58 Spacewalk says:

      He’s only infinite when you look at him.

    • 30/12/2010 at 13:31 The Hammer says:

      Perhaps it’s the chimney of City 17′s Citadel?

  11. 01/12/2010 at 12:51 UW says:

    Ahah, awesome. I was just thinking earlier today that I hope you do another one of these. It was actually around this time last year that I discovered RPS and started reading it.

    Still… what happened to Optimus Prime?

  12. 01/12/2010 at 12:56 Optimaximal says:

    Is Kieron the Ghost of RPS past or is he actually just very very pale?

  13. 01/12/2010 at 12:57 sonofsanta says:

    All hail Horace!

    I can’t believe Kieron still gets a stocking though. He better get coal in his! Or a serial killer. Not because I wish him any harm, just that he seems to like them, and having a little pet one to follow him round like a little MMO thing would make him smile, I think.

  14. 01/12/2010 at 12:58 David says:

    Praise be to the Ceaseless Ursine Master of All!

  15. 01/12/2010 at 13:09 Man Raised By Puffins says:

    ALL GLORY TO THE ENDLESS BEAR

    (Also, Hooray for another advent calender! Shame there’ll be no vicarious enjoyment of Fairtrade chocolate this time)

  16. 01/12/2010 at 13:14 panther says:

    praises to the space bear god

  17. 01/12/2010 at 13:19 stahlwerk says:

    If Horace enters your house through the chimney, is He really ever completely in your house? Can His endlessness ever be understood?

    Oh Horace, send us your Angelbears with gifts of steam sales and enough free time. I pray to Thee for 75% off Mass Effect 2, and a week of university downtime in January 2011.

  18. 01/12/2010 at 13:24 trooperdx3117 says:

    Good lord CLICK TECHNOLOGY! Horace has been generous this year.

  19. 01/12/2010 at 13:31 The Sombrero Kid says:

    Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

  20. 01/12/2010 at 13:32 strange headache says:

    What good is the calendar, if all the articles it links to are posted on the top of the blog-list anyway, while the calendar gets pushed back on to page 2,3,4… never to be seen again? Am I missing something here?

    • 01/12/2010 at 13:35 stahlwerk says:

      My guess is that it will be put in the feature header on the top of the page and stay there until the new year, when the monster comes out again, to devour RPS, as is its annual wont.

      Edit: oh look there it is already (the header, not the monster).

  21. 01/12/2010 at 14:03 adonf says:

    Nice ! This picture could make the winter solstice festivities a bit less shit this year, so thank you RPS and thank you Horace the Endless Bear for the gift of videogames.

    But why is there a picture of Pete Townshend and some dudes on the wall ?

  22. 01/12/2010 at 14:09 Rei Onryou says:

    Hail to Horace! May his worship be as unending as his form.

    Hmm…what gift should I offer to an infinite deity? Milk and cookies doesn’t quite seem appropriate…

  23. 01/12/2010 at 14:31 Raziel_aXd says:

    Will Fallout: New Vegas be in here?

  24. 01/12/2010 at 14:46 Isometric says:

    Horray for Horace The Endless Bear ad infinitum!

  25. 01/12/2010 at 15:00 RQH says:

    Hail Horace! May Your Endlessness be ever reflected in our entertainment.

  26. 01/12/2010 at 17:43 DrazharLn says:

    I initially thought that Horace’s hat must be stapled or glued to his head, but as He is infinite, perhaps He is merely using hidden portions of Himself to support the hat.

    I predicted the return of Horace, am I not a prophet?

  27. 01/12/2010 at 19:33 kwyjibo says:

    The only breakout PC smash this year has been Minecraft, fucking Minecraft, like Second Life but with fewer sex dragons.

  28. 01/12/2010 at 20:43 Arathain says:

    Oo, I love the Advent Calendar. I should hope that Horace will grant that some of the games hidden within shall be talked about in that dialogue/chat-log format you chaps sometimes do when more than one of you has played a game. Those are my favourite, excepting of course all the other things that are my favourite.

  29. 01/12/2010 at 21:31 Kronyx says:

    Weee, time goes really fast these days. I remember the last years advent calendar like it just happened yesterday

  30. 01/12/2010 at 22:05 MrEvilGuy says:

    My Predictions:

    Day 1: Battlefield Bad Company (edit: OMG I GOT IT RIGHT!!!)
    Day 2: God of Thunder
    Day 3-22: Lord of the Rings Online
    Day 23: Fly Pig
    Day 24: James Willock
    Day 25: ~DNE

  31. 01/12/2010 at 22:58 The Dark One says:

    I couldn’t find any numbers through the fog of jpeg artifacts!

  32. 02/12/2010 at 00:53 MajorManiac says:

    The RPS advent calender. Its like putting on a comfy pair of slippers, grabbing a nice hot-chocolate and watching it snow outside whilst sitting by an open fireplace.

  33. 02/12/2010 at 13:20 Tom Camfield says:

    Yes yes yes, you beautiful lot. Another RPS Christmas on its way. Wahoo! :)

  34. 04/12/2010 at 01:01 Wizlah says:

    Fact. On December the first, whilst unclogging my brain with coffee, I suddenly thought – will RPS have an advent calendar up today? and they did !?!? I SO HAPPY.

    Also, I predict minecraft to be number one with a pickaxe.

    • 04/12/2010 at 01:06 Chris D says:

      What are the rules here? Are unreleased games eligible? If it is then I’d have to agree but then what happens once it’s released for real, can it win again?

  35. 06/12/2010 at 15:29 Dataflashsabot says:

    Only number 1 clicks for me :(

  36. 09/12/2010 at 19:33 sonofsanta says:

    You have completely abused Horace’s Endless Gift by failing to update the click functionality even once. For shame! Horace would be endlessly displeased.

    YES I AM OBSESSED WITH CLICKING OK THANK YOU

  37. 10/12/2010 at 08:51 K says:

    You forgot to update this, only 1 will click. I am so sad :(

  38. 13/12/2010 at 10:57 Dzamir says:

    Day 4 is on Day 24

  39. 14/12/2010 at 15:26 panther says:

    in true rps style the writing is brilliant but the website tech sucks

    never change

  40. 30/12/2010 at 10:43 Sobric says:

    Ahhhh full click functionality. Hail Horace!

    Also, anyone doing any Games of the Decade stuff? How were the ’10s in gaming terms?

  41. 30/12/2010 at 11:34 Fumarole says:

    Whoa, time warp.

  42. 30/12/2010 at 13:38 Ergates_Antius says:

    Is Horace Hungry?

  43. 30/12/2010 at 13:49 Conor says:

    Horace appears to be thirsting for his rightful place on the front page. All hail his infinite glory.

  44. 30/12/2010 at 14:29 Rane2k says:

    Played/bought 11 out of 24, who´s got more?:-)
    (Might become 12, I´m contemplating getting Amnesia)

  45. 30/12/2010 at 14:30 Rane2k says:

    Played/bought 11 out of 24, who´s got more?:-)
    (Might become 12, I´m contemplating getting Amnesia)

    (Screw you Spam-O-Tron, not even a new email address works???)

    • 30/12/2010 at 14:50 Stephen Roberts says:

      I’m at 9/24 unless you count owning call of pripyat as enough to say I’ve played it. But I think it was utter suck.

      GOTY for me would have to go to Just Cause 2 for being so much fun. I haven’t laughed so much in ages and despite the ‘touch of the clone brush’ being prevalent across the world, my creativity wasn’t lacking. Between friend and myself we must have invented a decent 30 stupid mini games that became all consuming gigglefests.

      I also feel quite unexcited about minecraft (one I’ve played). I think the only compelling thing about it is the ‘feel’ of the world. It has the tactility of popping bubblewrap, if that was any fun at all and if there were hallucinogenic spores in the bubbles. Pop, inhale, smile, repeat. Luckily it’s in beta. Throw in a few billion more materials and combinations and a better hierachy of tool and gear improvement and some sort of big boss man and you’ve got yourself a fantastic trippin’ gamebox.
      Or just let me craft a rocket launcher.

      Also dying in Minecraft was fucking terrifying compared to dying in Amnesia. In Minecraft i had something to loose.

    • 30/12/2010 at 14:51 Inglourious Badger says:

      I’ve actually played/own 20 of the 24!? And most of them before this came out, frightening how much I must have spent. That said 4 are free and 7 I got for sub-£5 thanks to steam sales/pay-what-you-wants and generally cheap games being awesome this year.

      My favourite? Amnesia. With Minecraft and Call of Pripyat completing top 3

    • 30/12/2010 at 14:52 Kieron Gillen says:

      I’m 17/24, which is better than I’d have thought.

      KG

    • 30/12/2010 at 14:59 Jim Rossignol says:

      16 for me, which I think it a bit worse than last year.

    • 30/12/2010 at 15:09 Lambchops says:

      Played 10 bought 12 (still to start Awakening and Lara Croft). Favourites were Mass Effect 2, VVVVVV, Minecraft, Desktop Dungeons and Amnesia.

    • 30/12/2010 at 15:50 The Innocent says:

      I’m at 23/24, which gives me both a sense of pride and a mild feeling of emptiness.

    • 30/12/2010 at 19:31 Vinraith says:

      I own 11/19 (5 are free, so don’t count), and have played 8/24.

    • 30/12/2010 at 19:40 Laneford says:

      I own 16/24 which is rather impressive by my standards.

      That I’ve only played 5/24 for more than say, an hour, speaks volumes about my current gaming time allocation.

    • 30/12/2010 at 20:58 mpk says:

      Bought one, downloaded one, got a link to another in my favourites, so that makes, three

      Go me.

    • 31/12/2010 at 00:23 DigitalSignalX says:

      Only 6/24 – yet I can confidently claim I spent nearly 30-40% of my conscious hours this year playing games. MMO’s are evil. Very evil.

    • 31/12/2010 at 02:03 Zwebbie says:

      Played 3 1/2 out of 24 (Recettear, Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV and a couple hours of free Minecraft), which makes you wonder why I visit this site daily if I’m going to ignore half of the recommendations. That said, I wouldn’t have known any of those if it weren’t for RPS, and I even liked VVVVVV, so mission accomplished, Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

    • 31/12/2010 at 09:19 Nova says:

      Hm. If I count the demos (Recettear and RUSE) then I’am also at 20.

      Now where is the one who played them all? Quinns?

    • 31/12/2010 at 12:07 stahlwerk says:

      played 6, 2 of them demos, own 7.

      Started super meat boy yesterday. What a blast!

    • 31/12/2010 at 15:47 Quintin Smith says:

      I didn’t play them all, no. That would be maaad. 19 out of 24 for me.

    • 31/12/2010 at 16:20 AndrewC says:

      Yes, but how many did you lot *play*? I mean play-play. You know: PLAY.

  46. 30/12/2010 at 14:40 Stephen Roberts says:

    Numbers always look pretty when they are in Impact. Or did I mean Hattenschwieler? /w link to correct chainsawsuit comic. Damn Search function of awful.

  47. 30/12/2010 at 19:22 8-bit says:

    How did plain sight get on the list may I ask, I mean its a nice little game but it has problems going back to a steam sale they had a while back when nobody could log on, has it actually recovered since then or is it still on life support?

  48. 30/12/2010 at 20:55 mpk says:

    I’m secretly disappointed One Chance didn’t make it onto the list.

  49. 31/12/2010 at 12:05 stahlwerk says:

    Yet another comment thread haunted by the ghost of spammers past.

  50. 31/12/2010 at 21:13 Kua says:

    Isn’t this missing Civilization V? Sure it wasn’t a remarkable edition to the series. But, its civilization all the same.

  51. 01/01/2011 at 11:47 Freud says:

    A pretty good year for games. I got a lot of enjoyment from the big guns New Vegas and Mass Effect 2. Some enjoyment from Mafia 2. I had a tonne of fun with Alpha Protocol, Lara Croft and Call of Pripyat. I have made a decision to wait a bit with the Minecraft thingy until it is slightly more feature filled.

    But for me the game of the year is without a doubt Amnesia. The first four hours is the most immersive gaming experience I have had. The last three were more exploratory than frightening (law of diminishing returns) but it worked out. But going though Storage and Prison – that’s as good as gaming gets.

  52. 02/01/2011 at 13:01 MrTest says:

    The comment pagination seems to have gone funny for this post.

    • 02/01/2011 at 16:11 Torgen says:

      When a spam comment is deleted, the next post will appear in that now-vacant slot, which makes the later post appear before earlier ones.

  54. 02/01/2011 at 16:39 Stevostin says:

    No Fallout New Vegas ? Seriously ??

    I’d put it on the list anytime over 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 and reluctantly over 3. I can’t see how for one split second you could avec Bioshock2 or Just Cause 2 or Dragon Age Awakening in and Fallout New Vegas out.

  55. 02/12/2010 at 05:08 FDS21 says:

    Fork off with your forking shoes mate!

  56. 02/12/2010 at 20:08 MrEvilGuy says:

    whoa! Red bull hats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I’m putting an order down for 157 of them.

    Send me your credit card number, expiry date, security code, and credit limit so I can deposit the money into you.

  57. 30/12/2010 at 18:35 Basilicus says:

    Whoa. “Expiry” is a word? Thank you, Britain, for your words! Now I’m going to use that instead of expiration, which always confused me because it has to do with breathing. It’s a great new year already!!!

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