As the wind blows colder and the festive lights twinkler, Rock Paper Shotgun, a gaming news and reviews website, is wrapping up for a brief winter recess, making a playful plea to its readers: please hold off on sending emails until the new year arrives.
With its editorial team poised to climb down from their metaphorical treehouse, RPS editors lay out the site's hibernation schedule—starting now and stretching into the frosty days of January. When the staff returns on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024, their routine will likely involve adjusting to writing the correct year on their posts, a comically common mishap that tends to persist for months.
In the spirit of the holiday season—whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other celebration—everyone at Rock Paper Shotgun extends their heartfelt wishes for joy and restfulness. Despite the break, they ensure that their loyal audience won't be left in a lurch for gaming content.
The anticipation surrounding their annual Game Of The Year declaration is high, with banter and speculation rife among their community on Discord. In keeping with a time-honored seasonal game, the pretense of suspense is maintained with the official announcement poised for release at 1 PM GMT the day following the notice. The sentiment is clear: it's a superb game, and genuine enthusiasm for its acknowledgment is in the air.
For those who found differences of opinion with the Advent Calendar this year, there's a consolation. RPS delivers additional picks in the form of Selection Boxes, featuring games staff believed deserving of spotlight but, for various reasons, didn't make the final cut on the calendar. These mentions are given with a playful stubbornness, asserting the team's personal favorites and diverse tastes in gaming.
Adding to the festive content feast, Rock Paper Shotgun has organized roundups, looking back on the year's highlights from the site's editorial lens. Among these reflections, they'll be collating the Bestest Best reviews, featuring standout games, and examining the year from a guide-writing perspective—pinpointing the trends and benchmarks of 2023's gaming landscape.
One of the website's traditions, and a testament to their reader-support model, is to release Supporter-funded posts for all to read. During this holiday hiatus, a variety of such articles will become accessible under the "From The Archive" tag—a festive treat for every visitor to the site.
Also, in a lighter vein, Rock Paper Shotgun introduces their annual Christmas Crackers. These are humor-filled snippets meant to bring laughter (or groans) during the holiday merriment. The editors tease the content, hinting at the quality of jokes lined up—one even flavored with a touch of Star Trek—but no spoilers are given away.
To top off the heartfelt farewell note, RPS's editor shares candidly from the "past," indicating posts queued and social media updates planned. In real-time, however, they might be unwinding, savoring a chocolate treat, and contemplating the future gaming horizon.
They invite their audience to share their gaming resolutions for 2024 in the comments. The editor shares their own: an intention to explore more "weird stuff," a recurring goal that speaks to the curious and adventurous spirit of gamers.
In sum, Rock Paper Shotgun ties off the year with gratitude, humor, and a promise to return refreshed and full of gaming insights. Until then, readers will have plenty to explore between the promised content drops and archive treasures, all available during RPS's winter respite.
