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The RPS Selection Box: Alice0’s bonus games of the year 2022Some favourite games which didn’t make the RPS Advent Calendar
Some favourite games which didn’t make the RPS Advent Calendar
I confess: I usually did my damndest to rig the RPS Advent Calendar vote. When every year has so many more than 24 good games, I always tried to tactically vote and reshuffle points to wedge in a few wee great games I knew not many people had played. But with a change to voting procedure this year, I simply couldn’t get some games on our list. So, here are the games I would’ve slammed into our advent calendar if I were still allowed to cheat, along with some that simply didn’t quite make the cut.
Mothered - A Role-playing Horror Game
MOTHERED - A ROLE-PLAYING HORROR GAME - TrailerWatch on YouTube
MOTHERED - A ROLE-PLAYING HORROR GAME - Trailer
There you are, a poorly little girl named Liana, returning home after major surgery to find oh dear god who is this horrifying mannequin claiming to be my mother?
Launching on Christmas Eve in 2021,Motheredwas too late for last year’s calendar and I wish I could’ve squeezed it into this year—especially after ithid a miniature sequel in the new demo. In the end, I had to choose between whether I’d make a big push to ensure this or Who’s Lila? made it onto the calendar, and ultimatelycame down on the side of Lila. Both deserve to be there. So it goes. I am excited for the next game,Echostasis, coming in 2023.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - Launch TrailerWatch on YouTube
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - Launch Trailer
The weapons are also why I’ll probably stop playing Darktide. They’re tied into a network of rubbish random loot systems built upon four in-game currencies, the real-world passage of time, and just plain luck. It sucks. It is never fun. It creates no interesting decisions. Simply hold on and hope it throws up some good numbers for you. It’s time-padding trash. Hate it. Without it, I might happily dip in and out Darktide with pals across a very long time. But I’ll soon grow sick of engaging with this unrewarding and uninteresting nonsense to help me survive the higher (and more interesting) difficulty levels so yeah, not a keeper. What a shame.
Hyper Demon
HYPER DEMON Launch TrailerWatch on YouTube
HYPER DEMON Launch Trailer
The surprise follow-up toDevil Daggersis faster, murderier, and even more striking to look at, and… it did not enrapture me in the same way. Maybe the speedrunning violence ofNeon Whiteearlier this year had exhausted my limited annual supply of video game competitiveness. Maybe the initial learning curve inHyper Demonwas too high and frustrating. Either way, I was initially so delighted to see Hyper Demon launch out of nowhere then I’ve barely played it since.
I respect the heck out of Hyper Demon. It’s gorgeous, and it sounds beautiful too. What fresh hell this is! I also admire the shift from your score being a timer on survival to being points which reward speed and megamurder. Rather than trying to last as long as possible, you’re kinda trying to finish as fast as you can.
But the things which make it different to Devil Daggers, possibly even better than Devil Daggers, make it mighty impenetrable. There’s a lot to learn, and the tutorials cannot do enough to help internalise this, and it strongly punishes failure so experimentation and learning are frustrating, and a good run can easily turn bad then finish with a score well below its high point, and… Another time, I might well be praising many of these points, delighting in the new tricks to master and the higher skill ceiling. I could have again spent hours jostling for position on the leaderboards with my pals. Not for me, not right now.
Hyper Demon is dead impressive, and I wish I had caught it at a different time of year or different stage of my life.
Wordle
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
I didn’t even really play Wordle myself. I had a few goes, on and off, but didn’t commit. I already spend my workday shouting and swearing at words, y’know? But I heard about friends' scores, and their with their friends, and their parents, and their aunts, and the whole family WhatsApp group chat, and their colleagues, and… for a while, it felt like everyone was playing Wordle—and not just playing, competing. How rare for so many people to play together.
I also enjoyed the birth of the -dle genre, the many mediums and topics that daily guessing games could venture into with a simple website and an easy way to share your scores. Movies, football, maps, songs, weather, Google Street View, long Wordles, multiple Wordles at once, cooperative Wordles, and so many more. Wonderful. What a fantastic year for little games that became part of our daily lives and our relationships.
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