Ho ho ho! A merry Christmas to one and all. I hope you have a lovely time, or at least get a few days off work. If you don't do Christmas, pardon my exuberance: what I'm mostly excited about is that we've now passed the solstice and daylight will start returning. I have missed daylight so very much.
RPS are now officially on holiday until January 3rd, though we have plenty lined up to fill your eyes before then. Some of our favourite freelancers will share their game picks of 2018, articles about subjects from seas to smooching are scheduled, Have You Played will continue, and oh god help me I'm told the Christmas cracker jokes will return. I want you to know the cracker jokes are not my fault.
What are you playing this holiday? Here's what we're clicking on!
Alec
Alec shall receive coal.
Alice Bee
I'm super excited to spend like a week at home with no internet or phone signal. I'm going to take my laptop so I might be able to play a few things -- I'll probably take another spin around Obra Dinn, for example. Actually, I do get to see my dogs again! Lovely dogs. Daisy is a terrier and is convinced she is a puppy still. She likes being able to see far around her even though her legs are about four inches long, so she mysteriously climbs to the top of cabinets and dressers when people are not watching. She is a good dog. I will play playing with Daisy. MERRY NEW YEAR.
Alice L
It's Chrriiiiiistmasss! I don't like Christmas all that much but I am looking forward to a long period of time off where I can catch up on all those games I missed out on this year. I will also be making sure my dog isn't running around with socks in her mouth, and making sure the cats don't kill each other. Christmas is a fun time of year. I'm most looking forward to getting stuck in to Return of the Obra Dinn and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I'll also be trying to finish Celeste without throwing the game out the window inf frustration. At least there will be lots of food and chocolate.
Alice O
I've dropped out of all my Winterval plans so I can sleep, swim, and be still. That's all I want for Christmas. That and to get cool hats out of Destiny 2's Iron Banner PvP event when it returns next week.
Brendan
I'm not playing much. Because I'll be too busy GETTING MARRIED. Oh sure, everyone else is roasting pinecones and decorating turkeys. But that's not for me and my futurewife. For us it's a low key Christmas and then - BAM - out to the marriage depository to find a nice lady who can give us our papers. Thank you, nice lady, but thank you much more, wonderful futurewife. As for you, videogames. Go away. I don't need you anymore.
Dave
As I will be spending Christmas with various family members, there really isn't much of an opportunity to play games. However I do intend to partake in the multiplayer shenanigans of Monster Hunter: World as Behemoth finally will be available for PC. There may also be some playing of games on my Switch (since I'll be away from a PC for a spell) as well as a few rounds of CS:GO's new "battle royale" mode. It's in quotes because it's drastically different enough for me to actually like it, a lot. Ollie's been playing it for guides and I've been incredibly jealous!
Graham
Hitman 2 will be my Christmas game. It's perfect for the festive break, not because of the recently added Santa suit, but because its missions can be made to fit in between family responsibilities (and family fun).
John
I got a copy of the updated Spyros on PS4 to try to fill some of the endless chasm of Christmas nothingness with the boy, so I'm really hoping he enjoys watching that. Personally, I want to put a bit more time into Slay The Spire to see if I can figure out how it's even possible to get past the second boss. And if I somehow find some time, I'd love to catch up on a gap in my gaming, and play all the recent Wolfenstein shooters. How Christmassy.
Katharine
Having finally reunited my family, crushed the cultists and busted all the remaining myths of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, my Christmas gaming calendar is now wide open. I've been enjoying rolling around like a loon in Katamari Damacy: ReRoll on Switch, so I'll probably carry on with that, and I also need to finish >observer, which I briefly started before my Assassin's Creed adventure. My big Christmas game, though, will hopefully be Shadow Of The Tomb Raider if I can squeeze it in between visiting my family, the in-laws and going to America for a friend's wedding, because if we're going to endure one kind of national apocalypse this year, I'd much rather it be a sunny jungle-themed one than the dreary dirge of whatever Brexit turns out to be. Happy holidays!
Matt
It's Christmaaaaas! That means loadsa time to play loadsa games... except I won't have my PC for most of it.
I will have my Switch, though. I plan to play Stardew Valley, Minit, The Messenger, Mario Kart and Odyssey. Maybe I'll actually finish Celeste, and buy and practice Smash Brothers until I've got a fighting chance against the office veterans.
Or maybe I'll just spend the whole holiday playing Artifact on my crummy laptop.
Matthew
I'll mainly be recreating Jingle All The Way as I dash around Bath trying to find a Christmas present for Katharine. Once I've found an elusive gift, I’ll be taking on Hitman 2's second elusive target. Nothing like a bit of virtual murder to prepare you for the in-laws.
Ollie
Ollie shall receive coal.
But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?
