RPS Feature Teaching animals about death
Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site] is out of Early Access and fully released. Adam and John have both spent many, many hours with the alpha, and are now beginning to chew their way through the full version. That makes it an ideal time to get together to chat about their thoughts on the game so far, the experience of playing an RPG before it’s finished, and how to break the news of a death to a baby bear.
RPS Feature The verdict - with full spoilers
Alec: Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Biohazard [official site] is a new first person horror/action game that definitely has nothing whatsoever to do with anything else called Resident Evil, no siree. Definitely just some creepy people in a house. That’s all.
We’ve both played it now, Adam. Shall we throw all caution to the wind and go FULL SPOILERS as we discuss what works, what doesn’t and how it does or does not tie into the rest of this stalwart survival horror series?
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RPS Feature The RPS Verdict
Graham: It took me till this past week to finally play Hitman [official site], 2016’s rejuvenated dress-up sim/infiltration sim/lets-face-it-murder-sim. I’ve had a grand time with it for many different reasons (eg. the dress-up, the infiltration, the murders…), and I wanted to gather people together to pick over its pleasures in greater detail. So, Alec and Brendan, I ask you: what’s your favourite murder?
RPS Feature Declaring war against Diplomacy
Though Adam was the first to settle in the brave new world of Civilization 6 [official site], Alec and Pip have since spent the weekend establishing their own outposts in Sidland. The three of them now form an uneasy alliance to discuss the strengths and failings of the game.
Grievances are aired at length about its new Diplomacy system, jumbled UI and opaque nature, while its vibrant look and elaborate nature are praised. And has learning to play Civ become like learning to play Dota? Let us parley.
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RPS Feature Shrugging at Atlas
A month after release, four crew members of the good ship RPS have gathered to discuss their experiences in the vast reaches of No Man’s Sky [official site]. Do those procedural planets and creatures keep the game feeling fresh after hours of play? Do we enjoy collecting minerals to upgrade the laser that helps us to collect more minerals? And are we still going to be playing a hundred years from now, determined to uncover all of this universe’s secrets?
Here’s wot we think.
RPS Feature DOOM IS BALLET
DOOM [official site], in singleplayer at least, is probably the biggest surprise of the year to date. But just what is it about id’s rebooted demon-botherer which feels so damn good? Alec ‘Mancubus’ Meer and Adam ‘Shotgun’ Smith gathered to discuss their unexpected love of double-jumping, melee kills and exposed Pinky Demon bottoms.
N.B. includes SPOILERS for the plot, such as it is.
RPS Feature Unofficial co-op comedy 40K
Adam: Helldiving is hard. I think I am the worst Helldiver.
Alec: Helldiving is AWESOME.
Adam: Helldiving is the act of diving into hell. Where hell is understood to be one of several planets occupied by hostile forces. Mostly, in our experience, bugs. Bugs that tore our starship troopers into pieces.
To be clear about this, Helldivers [official site] is a cooperative game, from the creators of the original Magicka. It involves friendly fire, d-pad combos, mechs dropping from alien skies, ammunition shortages, panic, awesome motorbikes and death. Lots of death. I think I like it rather a lot.
RPS Feature A new hope?
Adam, Alec and Pip all went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this week, as did many other people around the world. Yesterday, they discussed their feelings and thoughts about the film in the company of a transcription droid, which produced the following report. Plot spoilers are clearly tagged and hidden, but there are discussions of structure and character throughout so turn back now if you want to go in completely cold.
Adam: Christmas comes but once a year. And for the forseeable future, it appears that Star Wars will arrive on an annual basis as well. Episode VII: The Force Awakens opened in cinemas across the UK this week, with packed midnight screenings and all manner of excitement. We three have seen it already and the first matter for discussion is, naturally, wot did you think?
Alec: IV, V, VI, VII, I, III, II.
RPS Feature Setting the post-world to rights
Alec’s already run his own review of Fallout 4 [official site], based on 50 predominantly campaign-inclined hours in post-nuclear New England, but now Bethesda’s latest is out John and Adam have been taking a more leisurely look at it too. Have they found convincing life in the wasteland? Do they agree that writing and characterisation is much improved? Or that the relentless focus on combat keeps it just short of rad status? Is the Witcher 3 still 2015’s RPG king after this? And why do they think a game which is prompting rather a lot of griping about bugs and graphics and meatheadedness has scored so many 9s and 10s from other critics? Time to set the post-world to rights…
There are no plot spoilers below, bar a passing reference to what happens in the introductory 15 minutes.
Assassin’s Creed Landahn is out! But not on PC, as we have to wait till next month before we can leap across all of Victoriana like an acrobatic chimney sweep. Far Cry Primal, the caveman sequel, will also arrive on PC the month after its February appearance on the console box. While this sort of situation isn’t quite as common as it used to be, it is one which refuses to go away – with Assassin’s Creed in particular a repeat offender, despite occasional promises to the contrary.
Is this – and the late arrival of other games on PC – cause for alarm? Alec, Alice, Pip and Graham gathered to discuss.
RPS Feature Why it's our game of the month (at the very least)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain [official site] is our Game of the Month for September, but why has this traditionally non-PC series infiltrated our chests and Fulton’d our hearts? Alice, Adam, Alec and a Graham gathered to discuss stealth, balloons, dogs in eye-patches, making enemy grunts feel alive and accidental kill-sprees.
No plot spoilers here, but if you still hope to go into the game entirely blind, be warned that we do discuss some of the game’s systems and mechanics in some detail.
Once a week most weeks, team RPS gathers, eyes itself warily across the table then debates. Sometimes it’s about SCANDAL, like slow-motion Batman or No Man’s Sky hype, other times it’s about perennials, like best levels ever or if Early Access means the end times.
This week, we’re discussing the pitfalls and merits of platform exclusives, in the wake of Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture being PS4-only, despite its devs making their name with the PC-only Dear Esther. In recent months similar has happened with Tomb Raider, and of course there’s a long history of this sort of thing, from your Marios to your Halos. Is this right? Is it sensible? And what about the other side of the coin, with XCOM 2 being PC-only? Not so grumbly then, are we? Let’s see if we can figure this one out, eh?
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RPS Feature Physician heal thyself?
A (hopefully) weekly series, in which the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss/bicker about/mock the most pressing (or at least noisiest) issues in PCgamingland right now. Hot Takes are go.
Alec: OMG THIS IS GOING TO BE THE MOST AMAZING HOT TAKE EVER. By which I mean, today we are discussing hype and videogames and if that helps or hurts them and helps or hurts us. The prompt for this is Hello Games’ chat with Pip last week, in which they mourned the crushing weight of expectation placed upon them as a result of having made some pretty good trailers for their space exploration game. I guess we’re going to struggle to avoid a touch of physician heal thyself here, but anyway. How do we feel about how the world feels about No Man’s Sky?
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RPS Feature Team RPS debates the Knightfall
The first in a new (hopefully) weekly series, in which the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss/bicker about/mock the most pressing (or at least noisiest) issues in PCgamingland right now. Hot Takes are go.
Alec: It will surprise literally no-one to hear that we are discussing Bat-Like Man: Arkham Kerrnigut and its somewhat disastrous PC port, which while technically last week’s news remains this week’s news because every fecker’s still talking about it. Including us.
I guess the first thing to ask is if y’all think its publisher pulling it off sale was GOOD THING or WHAT THE HELL THING?
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RPS Feature Our Stories
Now that Her Story [official site] is available, Adam, John and Pip have gathered to discuss the structure and plot of the extraordinary FMV crime game. There are spoilers throughout and as much of the game revolves around the secrets and lies surrounding a criminal case, please don’t read on if you haven’t already played. Our spoiler-free review and interview should help you to decide if you do want to play.
RPS Feature Batmobiles, shonky acting and infini-combos
We didn’t have Batcode for Batman: Arkham Kerniggut [official site] until yesterday (perhaps because of issues with the PC version), so Adam’s full verdict is a little way off yet, but as both he and Alec have been playing it when they can, they had a chat about what’s working and not working in their experiences so far. Does the transforming, deathdealing Batmobile open up or limit the Batman simulation? Could the wonky voice-acting be deliberate? Can a mere human really hope to master all those combos? All these things and more are dicussed, but one thing that isn’t is the kerfuffle about performance problems in the PC version of the game. We wrote plenty about that yesterday, so wanted to concentrate on the game itself for this particular piece.
While everyone else is off killing monsters and looking at bottoms in The Witcher 3, Pip and Adam have been killing time and looking at butlers in Regency Solitaire [official site]. It’s a game of cards and cads, taking in romantic Regency hotspots such as the baths of Bath, the beaches of Brighton and the ballrooms of London. As well as discussing its finer qualities, we try to work out what it all means, how important theme and setting are to our enjoyment, and whether so-called “casual” games are often unfairly passed over. Onward, gentle reader.
RPS Feature Time Teen
The problem with trying to review the second episode of Life is Strange [official site], Dontnod’s five-part teen drama, is that it would be largely the same as the first episode review except steeped in spoilers. That’s why our episode 2 coverage is going to be a conversation between Adam and me. Full of spoilers. Like, SWIMMING in spoilers. Hella spoilers. From the start.
RPS Feature A design for death
Adam’s already run his review of Dennaton’s sequel to neon-hued tactical murder party Hotline Miami, but while he’s a big fan, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number hasn’t been met with universal praise. Alec, more cautious about the game, joins Adam to discuss what may and may not be deliberate about its design choices, its bewildering story and its bugs.
RPS Feature From The Archive
Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s 141-year history to pull out one of the best moments from the archive. This week, we revisit August 4th 2011 to find John and Kieron bickering about influential platformer Limbo.
Having played and reviewed Limbo, John found himself at the end of Kieron’s (particularly sweary) disagreement gun, and as is always the case the two of them argued about it. An argument that can only be shared with the world. Whose side are you on? FIGHT! (This contains significant spoilers, folks.)
