RPS Pick Box: 2024 Jeremy’s Bonus Games

In the year 2024 was my first full year at RPS, and as a guide writer, it was a year filled with the kind of games that make you roll up your sleeves, wipe the sweat from your cheeks, and see the sky through the hole. .

Between checking my energy with the likes of Erdtree Shadow, Black Legend: WukongAnd Extraction wavesHowever, there were times when I had less fun, maybe a little more relaxed gaming experience. I’ve featured two below, along with one batshit cookie game that didn’t make our GOTY list, but thanks for the win.

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English hacking

Alice B (RPS in Peace!) I really liked English Haunting When she entered the show last April. I would have liked it, and one of us would probably have reviewed the final game, but alas, it fell through the cracks when the staff was changing here at Treehouse. Well, I am speaking after the fact to inform you English hacking It’s a great point and click experience that does a great job of exploring the mysteries of the greats that sent us back to 1907 England (and Scotland). You play Professor Patrick Moore, a period scholar specializing in spirituality and clairvoyance, and you have 72 hours to prove the existence of ghosts before the metapsychic examination department at your university closes. Igad!

I’m a keeper of Victorian and Edwardian stories, so An English Haunting touches all parts of me that crave mysteries on gas-lit streets, especially those represented by tweed suits and gumboots. It also finds the side of me that likes horror and wishes more point and click adventure games were infused with sorcery, so if you’re drawn to this same eclectic mix, pick this up. It can give you a great deal of attention to detail, puzzles that don’t stretch the logic of what’s possible, and a short sequence where you play as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who’s busy believing in ghosts rather than plotting ways. Kill Sherlock

My only criticism of An English Haunting is that the adventure drags to the middle (the Scottish adventure isn’t as good as it could be) and the overall experience isn’t as tight as Postmodern Adventures’ previous work. Night framesIt was a brutal horror for the 80s. (This is only because the night frames really were. Curse (Good, and if you haven’t already, you deserve to download it.) But if you stick to the end, you’ll get an amazing end result with the only jump scares I’ve had at point and point. – Click.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2

I am pleased with the filling Dragon’s Dogma 2. From a direction writing perspective, it’s the first big project he’s led among our small team, getting everything out. Class instructions to a A great walkOllie started and I finished. From a player perspective, I simply dig the weirdness on display here and Dragon Dogma 2’s commitment to making you do anything you can imagine and live with the consequences. Dragon’s Dogma 2 says that these are the consequences of playing in the giant sandbox, meet them now! I respect that gumption, and I respect that this is a “Capcom ass game,” as often stated in the work Slack. The memorable AI companion system that grows on you as the game progresses, the “climb on the back of this griffon and smash it a billion times as it swings dance revolution style” boss fights or simply the excellent character RE Engine models are used, this is the color to see what Capcom sticks to. It is throwing on the whole wall, and the end result is a little messy, but very interesting.

As a fan of tabletop RPGs, I appreciate that Dragon’s Dogma 2 essentially acts as the equivalent of Campaign Master and doesn’t worry too much about the plot of the campaign, but instead about the badass story the players decide to tell along the way. . This includes deciding to use the Unmaking Arrow – which kills anything in a single shot – on a random NPC you’ve been romancing since the entire romance system is undefined and kind of random. Everyone remembers those TTRPG nights, and that’s why I remember Dragon’s Dogma 2.

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Vampire Survivor: Ode to Castlevania

I found Vampire survivors For the first time this year. I know, a little behind the curve, but hating anything super popular means I have to wait a while to check out the latest mainstream obsession. I’m glad to see that I like Vampire Survivor, and it’s fun to farm campy Castlevania-as-translated-in-Italian enemies like Poppe Pecorina.

But I didn’t get into Vampire Survivors until the Ode to Castlevania DLC came out this October, because I love me some Castlevania and the fact that the Belmont-shooting sky game is now paying homage to its grandfather. It was too good to go against in an unexpected full-circle way. And damn, Ode to Castlevania is a joy, and one of the hardest DLC packs I’ve ever played. Not only are all your classic characters present and accounted for, including Simon, Trevor, Richter, and another big name, Belmont, but the amount of deep cuts included in this pack is impressive. Once you “beat” the DLC’s main map, expect to see lots of unexpected survivors popping up, e.g Quincy Morriswho wasn’t actually in the Castlevania game, but rather John Morris’ father from 1994’s Castlevania: Bloodlines/The New Generation, and also technically the same In Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, Quincy Morris helped kill Dracula with a bowie knife while working as a cool Texan in Europe. Yes, Bram Stoker’s novel is canon in the Castlevania timeline. If you want to read all the fantastic shenanigans that make up the official Castlevania lore, head over to Google.

Castlevania is in a rare position these days, as Konami hasn’t made a fully-supported game since 2014’s Lords of Shadow 2, but freely licensed it to anyone who wanted it. And so we have the Netflix show that made the series more popular than ever. But we have such a great improvement effort like Vampire Survivors that turns the game into the best Castlevania title of the last decade. Don’t wait as usual – play it today, especially if you’ve been beaten to death by Medusa’s head!