Hidden Folks *bling!*> is a hidden object game that’s *whooooosh!*> immensely satisfying to play yourself *thwip!*> but an absolute nightmare for anyone else to listen to *boing!*>

That’s because *pfftttt*> as you may have guessed *thwap!*> every single click results in a *plink!*>, *zip!*> and the occasional *dingalingaling!*> as you poke and prod its giant Where’s Wally canvas (or Waldo, for the yanks out there) to find its errant citizens, fruit, birds and (sometimes) monkeys. All right, I’ll stop with the noises now.

*brrrring!*>

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The third episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season will finally arrive on January 15th, 2019, Skybound Games have announced. Episode three, ‘Broken Toys’, was initially due to launch on November 6th but it was somewhat held up by developers Telltale Games shutting down and all. Skybound, the owners of The Walking Dead, have rounded up some former Telltale folks under their own games division to finish the four-episode finale, and now they’re rolling again.

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It’s day nine of the RPS Advent Calendar and we’ve got some words from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the first games journalist.

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Sundays are for finding new people to play board games with, because your new housemates insist that anything beyond Anomia is “too much”. You can read the best writing about videogames from the past week too, if you insist.

On Eurogamer, Wesley Yin-Poole spoke to the Fallout 76 roleplayers who are determined to wring fun out of a game that’s been almost universally panned. They might actually be succeeding. Sort of.

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Conan’s gamelords Funcom have announced that the barbarian’s fantasy land is to host a real-time strategy game, Conan Unconquered, made by Petroglyph Games. Petroglyph the studio founded by several former Command & Conquer folks, who’ve since come on to make games including Grey Goo and Star Wars: Empire At War. Conan Unconquered sounds a curious one, with base-building and wall-raising and armies and all that… in service of surviving waves of enemy attackers. It’s a wave-survival RTS. And it has two-player co-op. And you can summon honking great monsters like that bronze chap to help. Huh!

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Daybreak Game Company, the H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 mob formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment, have laid off an unconfirmed number of staff. It’s the second wave of layoffs at Daybreak this year, and a real tough time to be laid off. It’s the usual “optimising our structure” sort of reason. Daybreak say they’ll continue to run their current and are working on new games too.

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To celebrate Company Of Heroes 2‘s fifth birthday (its fifth birthday… six months ago?), Sega are giving Relic’s World War 2 real-time strategy sequel away for free on Steam. Grab it by Monday and it’s yours for keepsies. They did the same with its fourth birthday last year but it’s still nice for people who didn’t know CoH last year, or didn’t know it well enough to be invited to its birthday party, leaving them in an awkward position when their pals start talking about antics from the party then go quiet when they remember you weren’t invited. “It’s fine,” you said, “I don’t know them that well.” This year you do, my friend. This year you do. Get in.

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Huh? What’s that noise, coming from behind door eight of the RPS Advent Calendar? Ah, it’s stopped. Oh well – musta been rats.

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It’s December now, and I’ve already burned through a barrage of Netflix-original Christmas romantic comedies. To be fair, it’s not just the holiday season that puts me into the romcom spirit but it is a good catalyst. Whether it’s You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Groundhog Day or The Holiday and The Christmas Prince, hook me up to an IV and put the popcorn on. I am here for these questionable displays of romantic affection from men with chiseled jaws, dark hair, and other indistinguishable features.

If you, unlike me, don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to consume romcoms en masse and ad nauseum (even I have my off days), perhaps some short dating sims are more your speed. They can pack the same punch — and if you don’t have the time to boot up a BioWare game, sometimes you can get there in 1/10th the time. Here are a few quick ones to get you into the lovey-dovey holiday spirit.

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Christmas is coming! You haven’t bought enough presents yet! The ones you have bought are rubbish! Your family are all going to say terrible things about you behind your back! Auntie Linda thinks you’re even more despicable than Cousin Gertrude!

Pfft, leave those eggnags to their traditions. You? You deserve to wrap yourself up in a lovely warm videogame. But which one will you be playing this weekend? If it helps, these are ours.

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