We've started opening the doors of the RPS Advent Calendar, revealing our favourite games of the year. We also declared our fifty favourite PC games of the decade. Each is missing things I'd like to see (and I already voted tactically to jam in some niche favourites) but ah, that's a lot of good video games there. And I am glad to be getting back to writing news rather than 'assessments' or 'analysis' or 'critique' or whatever this feature business is. Doesn't feel right.
What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!
Alice Bee
I have progressed in The Star War so now I have all my force powers and a second lightsaber blade! Also, I have a black and neon pink paint job for the robit, and some sort of fox rabbit pet on my ship. So, 10/10
Also the level design is pretty good and whatever, I guess?
Alice L
This weekend I'll be finishing off Superliminal and Tangle Tower... I hope. And then, obviously, playing more Skyrim. I'll maybe even try to sort out my inbreeding problem in my zoo in Planet Zoo, too. Please. Help.
Alice O
I can't swim for a bit while a tattoo heals and 1) that sucks 2) I worry about my cold resistance. My tolerance has grown real strong and the latest sea temperature I swam with (6C) isn't far off the lowest it'll go (4C), but this is how people lose habits. A whole weekend on land. Awful. I'll put in a bit of prep for the next Destiny 2 season then, I suppose.
Astrid
Astrid has been fired.
Dave
I'm a little unsure as to what to fire up on my PC. I want to give Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory a go, but I still haven't finished with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - not even close. It does depend on what I'm in the mood for I guess. I've also dipped back into Ghost Recon: Breakpoint for the new raids, which are a mixed bag. The stuff that is more Ghost Recon in tone isn't all that captivating to me, but I did like fighting the bosses - even if they're the least "Ghost Recon" thing about Ghost Recon: Breakpoint.
Graham
I'm still just playing Noita all the time. You thought 'Can't Stop Playing' was just a generalised expression of enjoyment, but actually it's a kind of curse. I'm trapped here, delving into procedural dungeons over and over, unable to play anything else. I can't ever stop. Please. Please help.
Katharine
In an attempt to detox from the deals, I'll be chilling out to some more Mutazione this weekend. As Alices Bee and O beautifully described in their advent calendar entry this week, this is the perfect relaxation game and a very nice place to sit, chat and unwind for a bit.
Matt
I plan to spend a wholesome hour or two on Speed Dating For Ghosts, then possibly go crab-slaying in Phoenix Point. It sounds like I'll need to take advantage of invigorating weekend downtime if I want to hike up its learning curve.
Matthew
Doing Christmas shopping and playing Phoenix Point. Because I can't get enough of rushing around looking for rare items while my funds dwindle, my legs grow fatigued and I keep getting stuck in crowds of people who take too sodding long with their decision making. And in Phoenix Point, too.
Nate
It's a pretty simple choice this week. Phoenix Point is out, and I'm one of those diehard fools who refuses to accept the 1994 X-COM as anything other than the world's finest strategy game, so I want to see what its big crab baby looks like. Might play some Halo: Reach too, in case I want to mix it up and kill split-jawed dog men with plasma swords for a bit instead.
Ollie
Phoenix Point sometimes makes me want to rip my monitor up off my desk and hurl it through the window at the nearest wandering kitten. But I'm still playing it. Is that just because it's my job as guides writer to play it? Maybe not.
Sin
Assuming I can get it to work at home, I will be stomping about in an impractically giant mech, destroying my many enemies in a hail of rockets and machine gun fire. And if I have time, playing MechWarrior 5. I also installed a heap of mods for Kenshi last week, and might spend some time there exploring and testing the trading and hobo-ing waters now that I've got a sustainable cactus farm. I'm still not sure if it, or its mods, will let me play quite how I want to. Perhaps we'll find out.
But you, dearest reader, what are you playing?
