Steam Charts: All This Happened Edition
Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt
What’s Another Thing You Could Buy Instead Of GTA V Again?
Help me. Something's gone weirdly wrong. Time doesn't seem to be going in the right order any more.
The Steam Charts are compiled via Steam's internal charts of the highest grossing games on Steam over the previous week.
6. Valve Index VR Kit
This re-release of the classic Valve Index VR set-up harkens back to the 2019 peak for the virtual reality format. It comes with all ten games that were released for the format pre-installed, and even recreates the ludicrous situation of being tied to your PC by heavy wires. One for nostalgia fans only, really.
10. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
Is it... is it 2018? This feels closer to right than before. It must be, Wikipedia says this came out September 2018, and it looks Autumnal outside. I'm going to review this game when it comes out. It will be the best in a dodgy trilogy, with some properly fun third-personing to do, but sadly deliver a deep dive into some deeply racist 'white saviour' tropes in a very ham-fisted way.
The good news is the following trilogy went on to move away from Croft as the central character, and instead had players playing as indigenous characters exploring within the histories of their own cultures.
1. Monster Hunter World
It's not just me that's struggling with chronology, as the promised Iceborne expansion continues to slip further and further away. After missing both its late 2019 and January 2020 release dates, many began to wonder what was happening at Capcom. Then of course it was later revealed that the team was having trouble sucking enough colour out of the wintry environment to ensure the expansion could match the main game's washed-out blandness.
7. Greedfall
Ooh, that's rather splendid to see! A little flawed RPG getting to what might as well be the top spot in the Steam Charts (considering that whatever it might be at number 1 certainly isn't a game). My Good Idea here is to get around to playing it. Astrid wasn't that taken with it, but honestly, story-driven RPGs are so hard to come by I'm absolutely definitely going to give it a good try.
Plus I remain as delighted by the developer's name - Spiders - as I was when I first saw it eight years ago. Even if my experiences of their previous games haven't provided matching levels of delight.
10. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
Is it... is it 2018? This feels closer to right than before. It must be, Wikipedia says this came out September 2018, and it looks Autumnal outside. I'm going to review this game when it comes out. It will be the best in a dodgy trilogy, with some properly fun third-personing to do, but sadly deliver a deep dive into some deeply racist 'white saviour' tropes in a very ham-fisted way.
The good news is the following trilogy went on to move away from Croft as the central character, and instead had players playing as indigenous characters exploring within the histories of their own cultures.
8. Flibble Glibble Pants
What’s Another Thing You Could Buy Instead Of GTA V Again?
The Steam Charts are compiled via Steam's internal charts of the highest grossing games on Steam over the previous week.
2. StarLadder 2019 Berlin CS:GO Major Championship Viewer Pass + 3 Souvenir Tokens
6180 The Moon
Before I leave RPS in May this year, there's something I need to put right. Back in 2013 I was very excited about a forthcoming platformer called 6180 The Moon. Then later in the same year I saw it demonstrated at GDC's Experimental Gameplay Workshop, alongside games like Mushroom 11, The Castle Doctrine and Starseed Pilgrim. And yet, I never reviewed it!
So let me put that right this very moment: it's really good! It's a platform game where the top and the bottom of the screen are the same place, and you have to adjust your brain accordingly to think in a sort of cylindrical space as you jump about. There. Matter put to rest.
5. Plunkbat
The latest single by Listener is well worth your time. I think this one could be a breakthrough for them.
10. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
Is it... is it 2018? This feels closer to right than before. It must be, Wikipedia says this came out September 2018, and it looks Autumnal outside. I'm going to review this game when it comes out. It will be the best in a dodgy trilogy, with some properly fun third-personing to do, but sadly deliver a deep dive into some deeply racist 'white saviour' tropes in a very ham-fisted way.
The good news is the following trilogy went on to move away from Croft as the central character, and instead had players playing as indigenous characters exploring within the histories of their own cultures.
3. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Digital Deluxe Edition
Help me. Something's gone weirdly wrong. Time doesn't seem to be going in the right order any more. Before I leave RPS in April this year, there's something I need to put right.
It comes with all ten games that were released for the format pre-installed, and it looks Autumnal outside. What’s Another Thing You Could Buy Instead Of GTA V Again?
4. Dead by Daylight - Stranger Things Chapter
Just in time for Stranger Things return to Netflix this Summer comes this tie-in with Dead By Daylight - a game that as a penchant for cross-fiction DLC. There was Ash Vs Evil Dead (RIP), A Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween, Saw... And now the town of Hawkins appears. Bizarrely this costs £10 alone, or £15 including the required original game. But you can currently buy the original game for £7.50. So, um, it's cheaper with the DLC, but more expensive than without it. If you saw what I meant.
9. Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition
Welcome to Rock, Paper, Shotgun. We'll be writing about games, you'll be reading about games. PC games, mostly, with a hint of retro.
One of the most interesting games to come out of E3 last week was Echochrome. Announced for PSP and PS3, it's disappointing to learn that such an esoteric and unusual puzzler isn't planned to make home on the PC. However, it's slightly less disappointing to discover that it's already here. Sort of.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site] has just landed on Kickstarter but we've already played an early build. It's an ambitious sequel, supporting up to four players who will now be able to compete as their objectives overlap and diverge. I’m essentially vestigial at this point, a sort of overgrown skin-tag you’ve grown to not mind so much, but probably should remove in case it turns a bit funny.
I wonder what will happen if I put this old pocket-watch in a microwave.