Sonic Mania was a joy> – a true return to form for Sega’s spiky blue mascot. It’s due to get even better later this month. Sonic Mania Plus, is a re-release (available as a $5 upgrade for existing owners) adding two new playable characters from the little-known SegaSonic The Hedgehog arcade game, plus some new content. In the first of a series of developer diaries, we get a peek at the new characters in action. Plus an all-too-brief glimpse at Encore mode; a second loop through the game with new lighting, cutscenes and enemy placement.

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The old quote is wrong: neither death nor taxes are, it seems to me, as terrifyingly certain as the Steam Summer Sale. Yes, once more we can add to the heap that is our backlog by buying games for, what, five quid, on average? But there are so many to choose from that it’s easy to get flustered, so who better than the staff of RPS to hand-pick the best ones for your consideration (rhetorical question; do not answer)?

Check out the full list below for a mix of games that should suit all pockets and tastes.

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Last year’s Sonic Mania was a return to the hedgehog’s days of plain ol’ side-scrolling platforming. It was a celebration of nostalgia, though, made by a small team with roots in the fan game scene. So ah, sure, go on, wham in some weird obscure playable characters. With no terrible cutscenes, I’ll be able to pretend Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Bubsy are brand new anyway. Those two are arriving in Sonic Mania Plus, an expanded version that’ll come to us as DLC – on July 17th, Sega announced today. (more…)

I’m still in a state of mild disbelief that Sonic Mania even exists. A glorified fan-game by some of the best and brightest creators in a scene that’s often looked down on and frequently sneered at. Backed fully by Sega, it recaptured the spirit of what made that weird blue hedgehog a cultural icon through the ’90s and beyond.

If only there was a little bit more of it. While not quite the full sequel announcement we’ve been hoping for, the game is getting a physical retail re-launch under the name Sonic Mania Plus, and the new content will be available as paid DLC for anyone who already owns the game.

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We’ve already seen which games sold best on Steam last year, but a perhaps more meaningful insight into movin’ and a-shakin’ in PC-land is the games that people feel warmest and snuggliest about. To that end, Valve have announced the winners of the 2017 Steam Awards, a fully community-voted affair which names the most-loved games across categories including best post-launch support, most player agency, exceeding pre-release expectations and most head-messing-with. Vintage cartoon-themed reflex-tester Cuphead leads the charge with two gongs, but ol’ Plunkbat and The Witcher series also do rather well – as do a host of other games from 2017’s great and good.

Full winners and runners-up below, with links to our previous coverage of each game if you’re so-minded. Plus: I reveal which game I’d have gone for in each category. (more…)

We asked a handful of our contributors to put together a list of their three favourite games from 2017. Their picks are running across the week while the rest of RPS slumbers.>

I’ve been thinking about time a lot recently – how we create and manipulate histories and the present in video games and in general – so you’ll forgive me if my end-of-year choices are a bit Back to the Futurey. (more…)

This fella, Sonic The Hedgehog, recently turned twenty-six years old, which means he’s fast-approaching the stage of his life where he’s not sure how long he can describe himself as being in his ‘mid-twenties’ and panics every time a survey asks him to select an age range: ’18-25′ is in the past, ’26-31′ is the new now. And should he listen to the people who say those red and white sneakers make him look like he’s trying a bit too hard?

While Sonic frowns into a mirror, you can save a bunch of money on a stack of games that star the little blue guy. Head to Bundle Stars and you’ll be able to pick up 17 different Sonic games with some nice discounts. That even includes Sonic Mania, which is something of a return to form. He might be getting older, but he can still recapture the glory days every once in a while.

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