In 2013, I resolve to convince as many people as possible to play Roguelikes and I’ll be particularly targeting those people who have never delved into the devious dungeons of ‘@’ before. It’s OK to admit that you’ve avoided them in the past because they look intimidating/crappy. TOME could be the gateway game you’ve been waiting for. It’s a variant of one of the core roguelikes but when it reached version 1.0 recently something miraculous happened. Firstly, it actually reached 1.0, which is on a par with the parting of an ocean given how many of these wonder-works are fated to grow forever, passing from designer to designer. But more amazing still, TOME has neat graphics and a friendly interface. Download it immediately.

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bzZZT…bzRRT…Oh. Ah. Erm. Cough.> Hello?

After two weeks of festive recovery time in our brine tanks, we have returned. Normal, daily service on Rock, Paper, Shotgun resumes at last momentarily. How was your Christmas/New Year/deflating return to normality?

First-parser linguistic shooter. Queer pirate plane. You’re a good fleshchaos Charlie Brown. They say if an Emily Short pokes her head above ground at the start of a new year, the > crop will be plentiful.>

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If you think 2012 was a good year for cut priced gaming, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The competition for access to gamers’ wallets between all the different players is heating up more than ever before, and in 2013 it’s you that stand to benefit. Read on for the first bargain bucket of the year, and you can get the lowdown on the latest gaming deals across all platforms any time over at SavyGamer.co.uk. (more…)

Where are you going to be this time next year? Where am I going to be? Because the future is slipperier than a Teflonized electronic eel, I’ve decided to bring forward by 12 months The Flare Path 2013 Sim Awards. The decision is not one I take lightly (some cynical Simons may argue that assessments of the unassessable are not always completely reliable) but leave your scientific scruples in the elephant’s foot umbrella stand by the door, and down this pint of absinthe before clicking ‘Read the rest of this entry’ and the experiment may just succeed. (more…)

Slave of God is a new, free game from Stephen Lavelle, aka Increpare, he of English Country Tune. It is a game about visiting a nightlcub, with all the attendant music, magic and horror. Young Cara paid it a visit.> (more…)

Last time: One man. One farm. NO HOPE.>

This time: A demon payphone. An immortal lawn. Tractors that love too much.>

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[Part one, Part two.]

The third and most important part of the preview of 2013 has been arranged by our guest editor, Simon Tremendous. Famed for his pioneering and colourful work in compiling lists of things that are about to happen in the next twelve months, Tremendous has been lauded around the world as the next big thing in discussing what the Next Big Thing might be. When we asked Tremendous how he felt about the coming year in PC gaming, he told us to stop writing idle rubbish about imaginary columnists and get on with some proper fucking work for a change. That snooty bastard.

Screw him, anyway. (more…)

Update: OK, we’ve now had correct answers to both questions, so please cease your frenzied entries now. Thanks for getting involved, all. Now updated with answers. Well done to our two winners! And for the avoidance of doubt, our two winners know who they are!

This is it, folks. Your chance to live the dream and kick off 2013 in style. I’ve scratched backs, pulled strings and fiddled with knobs. The result is that we’re giving away a pair of gaming rig kits composed of RPS’s favourite clobber. So, that’s an Intel Core i5-3570K processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 graphics and some Z77 motherboard action. And it can all be yours. All you have to do is riddle me these questions three. Well, two and a tie breaker…> (more…)

2013 will no doubt be unlucky for some, but for PC gamers it will be a conveyor-belt of entertainment assortments, which we can pick and choose from with our long steel chopsticks of purchasing. In this part “two” of the list of the year, we get to see how games have blossomed as a form that is wide as it is long, and very, very loud. Hot damn.

Read on! This part of the list is arranged in reverse hyperbolic order. (more…)