HomeFeatures
The RPS Selection Box: Rebecca’s bonus games of the year 2022Really, you can just jump in anywhere
Really, you can just jump in anywhere
Sequels are often contentious, but I feel like video games can get away with being a part of a long-running series – and, crucially, still be good while they’re at it, well past the point where a book or movie franchise would have outstayed its welcome.
The thing is, though, when it comes to GOTY lists like ourAdvent Calendar, it’s a much bigger task to convince your fellow voters of the merits of your new favourite game when it’s the third, fourth, or maybe even sixteenth in its series. I’m adamant that those games deserve their share of recognition at the end of the year, which is why my honourable mentions celebrate 2022’s new entries into some of my favourite ongoing series.
Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip
I know it feels like I bang on about Monster Prom all the time, and to be fair, that’s pretty accurate. But at the same time, it’d be unfair to write offMonster Roadtripas just some sequel I was guaranteed to love because I was already so invested in the series. A lot of work has clearly gone into refining and redirecting this franchise for its third outing, and it’s a bit churlish of you, honestly, to expect me not to highlight that just because you’re sick of hearing about how great I think Monster Prom is. ’Tis the season of goodwill, after all.
Be kind this festive season… or else.
Truth is, I just really liked Monster Prom 3. It’s miles better thanthe second game– which, while still great as avisual novel, fell down a bit as a multiplayer party game – and could even givethe originala run for its money. Personally, Roadtrip has overtaken the first game to become my favourite in the series.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me
No matter what disappointments and setbacks I may have suffered at points in 2022, it will always be the year when we got two Supermassivehorrorgames within six months, and that goes a long way to nudging my internal happiness needle back towards the positive. We votedThe Quarry(a standalone spiritual successor to the studio’s breakout hitUntil Dawn) onto ourcollective GOTY list, but there was slightly less love going around forThe Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me.
Apologies again, Ms Buckley…
The Devil In Me is also the Season One finale ofThe Dark Pictures Anthology, and while my elaborate theories on how it all ties together haven’t exactly been confirmed (yet), I have some satisfaction in having called that thereisa running storyline in the framing narrative. The best part of this game for me, though, has to be the fact that after spending a full year talking up my adoration for Jessie Buckley, her character was the only one I got killed during my first playthrough, so I guess that’s canon for me now. RIP Kate, sorry I failed so hard at “protecting you at all costs”.
The Past Within
The Past Within - Official TrailerChilling in a remote cabin playing clearly cursed co-op games is literally my idea of the perfect weekend.Watch on YouTube
The Past Within - Official Trailer
The premise of The Past Within is both very simple and mind-bogglingly complicated, and involves time travel alongside the series' usual mix of complex family saga and Twin Peaks-inspired mysticism. You don’t need to know anything about the overarching story, however, to appreciate that this is a cube escape take onKeep Talking And Nobody Explodeswith a creepy shadow person occasionally scuttling around in the background. You and your partner are communicating across a span of decades via a physical time machine, with the hopes of transporting bits of your dead dad from the past so that he can be reincarnated in the future.
Do it without screen-cheating and it’s a satisfying couple of hours of good communication and cooperative puzzle solving. As a delightful bonus, the devs thoughtfully included two versions of all the puzzles in the game, so you can replay it with the roles swapped to see both sides of the story.
The Past Within really is the sixteenth game in the series, but the non-linear nature of the plot means you can jump in anywhere and be just as baffled as all but the most seasoned veterans of theRusty Lake fan wiki(and even they’re just making educated guesses about what’s going on most of the time). The Rusty Lake games range from short to very short and are either free or very cheap, so despite its complex underlying story it’s a very easy series to get into, although potentially a hard one to stop thinking about once you’re hooked.
