I m back from celebrating my time off for American Thanksgiving to bring you the final installment in my close examination of game components. The pair to my last piece, on embodiment and movement, we re taking the deep dive into space and movement.

I know not all games are made of only four elements — time, rules or constraints, embodiment, and space — but it sure seems like that s what make up the games I like. Sometimes it can feel like there s so much Discourse about what does or does not make up a game: Does it require skill? Can you win? Is it difficult? Are there points? At the end of the day, if these questions aren t proving productive or generative, it seems like it just isn t worth it to ask. Questions I find more interesting are: what does this piece do with its components? What about it can I find compelling? What does this game teach me? Where does this game challenge me?

When it comes to movement, I think that space and embodiment are two sides of the same coin. When playing a game, one often embodies some sort of representational (or otherwise) avatar, and then there is the space through which that representation moves. There is Pac-Man, and then there is the labyrinthian space through which the Pac-Man Pacs. Last week considered what it meant to control or embody those representations, and this week s post looks at the requisite space around those representations which gives them context. Here are some games with some neat focus on space:

(more…)

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month – and no returns! Oh, and Merry Christmas. Fire up SomaFM, open the first door on your advent calendar, and enjoy four weeks of mulling the Dickens out of everything you eat, drink, wear, and play.

What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!

(more…)

One of the things we hear most often from readers is that we’re too> handsome, too> clever, too> lovely. Putting this quantity of quality into the world makes it hard to keep up with us. So as an experiment, I’m revising an old RPS format: the Omnibus. Here, we’ll roundup the prior week’s offerings – like a Sunday Papers but only for our own articles, the real> best writing about videogames.

(more…)

The die has been cast. Purple smoke is billowing from the chimney of the RPS treehouse. The Alices have shuffled out of the choosing parlour to deliver the news. The best games of 2018 have been selected and trapped behind the doors of an advent calendar.

(more…)

Anodyne 2 is an odd looking thing, channelling the uncanny style of N64 and PSX games, except when it’s not. Folks following the development of the action-adventure sequel have spotted that some of the screenshots appear to be in the chunky, 2D early 16-bit style of the original Anodyne. Oh, and it’s also a rhythm game too, and a driving game, somehow? It’s probably for the best that dev Sean Han Tani of Analgesic Productions has gotten trapped in the video dimension. His new form allows him to explain what’s going on in a lovely bit of internally narrated footage below.

(more…)

You can’t get much more indie than breaking up with a small publisher to go entirely solo, and that’s exactly what Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone is doing with his enormously popular farm ’em up Stardew Valley. As of December 14th, he’ll be sole developer and publisher of the game on PC, Xbox, PS4 and Vita. The break with Chucklefish seems amicable and not all-encompassing too, with the publisher still handling the Nintendo Switch and Android versions of the game. In his statement, he also teases “announcements concerning the future of Stardew Valley soon” – exciting!

(more…)

Steampunk zombiefest RTS They Are Billions may not have a campaign yet (it’s coming), but I reckon this latest early access update might be more important in the long run. Released yesterday, developers Numantian Games rolled out their Steam Workshop-integrated editor after a couple weeks of testing. Players can build scenarios both hand-crafted or procedural, with custom rules, complex scripting and new victory conditions. They also released a new official challenge scenario – even with reinforcements, can you finish your defences when the horde is only 50 days away?

(more…)

In 2007, I was in a bar in Soho. I was waiting to order a drink. Two guys in their early twenties were standing next to me. They were gamers. One was talking loudly about an old guy he had befriended. He bought a Commodore 64 the day it came out he said, with clear wonder and delight, I have a friend from back in time.

Hi. I m Kieron Gillen. Today, I will be your friend from back in time.

(more…)

War may never change, but diplomacy sure could use an overhaul in the Total War series. The upcoming Total War: Three Kingdoms is going to be shaking things up a bit, if Creative Assembly’s massive two part dev-blog post on the subject is any indication. Personal relationships are going to be important if you plan on uniting China under your reign, and while two nations may be friendly, their leaders may have their own axes to grind, souring negotiations. Take a peek at the how all this ‘not sending soldiers to stab people’ stuff works in a pair of explanatory videos below.

(more…)

While Epic have done well kicking down boundaries between platforms to allow Fortnite servers to be shared by PC and console folk alike, those with multiple systems still have a wait ahead of them. While you’re still free to hop between platforms and link accounts to share all present and future rewards, plans to let players merge old hoards and progress between systems have been delayed. Originally meant to be rolling out this month, Epic have announced that Account Merging won’t be landing until early 2019. Not ideal, but they’ve not done badly at all this year, to be fair.

(more…)