Thank you and farewell, Adam Smith

I can't believe it's been a month already since we announced Adam's impending departure, but the day has come. Today is Adam's last day at RPS.

Or actually, yesterday was his official last day, but he's still here today finishing off some features. It's nice of him to provide such a neat anecdote which encapsulates his dedication and passion for the job over the past seven years.

Since 2011 Adam has done as much as anyone to define the site's voice. To me, his writing has always been thoughtful and welcoming, drawing readers in like an older, smarter friend who wants to introduce you to something he knows you'll love. Through this work he's opened up genres which are so often obtuse, from historical grand strategy to truck simulators to ASCII roguelikes, turning them into experiences that you can appreciate even if you don't play them.

I'm going to repeat myself slightly, but when I think about his work, I mainly think about Night Drive. Maybe it's less striking now that we've written so much for so many years about the oddity that is Euro Truck Simulator 2, but I don't think so. From the first paragraph after the jump, I'm transported, hanging on its every word, desperate to see where this road journey is headed and to experience it for myself. I worked somewhere else when the article was published and I remember people passing it around: look at this, they'd say. It wasn't the unusual game they were excited by, it was the words.

Adam's done that again and again. I think about Of Crime And The City, Breaking History (and part two), and the choose-your-own-adventure Perusing The Main Menu At The In-Game Cafe. I think about him writing our mammoth Best Strategy Games feature on his own, and all the reporting from events he'd do. (You can read all of his posts here.)

I think about reviews, which were Adam's specialty. Pick one? Take Crusader Kings 2 ("...of course, some people won’t find anything to love at all. Those people are dead inside.").

And I think about all the work Adam has done behind the scenes, as a consistently buoyant presence in work chats and as an editor who has had his fingers on pretty much every feature and review to go up on the site these past few years. You've been reading his words whether you knew it or not.

Adam started in games journalism at RPS and he's leaving now to go into game development. That means two things: one, the field is losing one of its brightest voices, which I am growing sadder about the longer I spend writing this post; two, Adam is the Ryan Giggs of games journalism.

Thanks, Adam.