2008 in Review @ RPGCodex

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The 2008 retrospective covers many of the RPG's we saw last year and a few that were simply updates of titles previously released. The article covers not only the games, but also the developers that created them. Without further ado:

And so it's been another year in the life and times of the Prestigious RPGCodex Magazine. What did this year of two-thousand and eight bring in the world of RPGs? Not much. In fact not much at all really. There were an impressive 16 RPGs games we covered that were released this year (actually there were a few more but I'm ignoring them). Some of which aren't really RPGs games we should be covering and another bunch which are, to varying degrees, questionable as to whether they deserve any coverage at all anywhere. In short, it's been another fairly typical year in the world of RPGs.

So here they are, the year of 2008 in RPGs by order of PC release date:

1. Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb games released another version of the same game he's been releasing for the past 20 years. Avernum 5; Feb 16, 2008.

2. Penny Arcade released two episodes of some RPG adventure type-thing. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness; May 21, 2008.

3. BioWare went X-TREME™ with the release of a collar-grabbing, lesbian sex game featuring one Commander Shephard. Mass Effect; May 28, 2008.

4. We were given another Fate unlock code. Fate: Undiscovered Realms; Jun 12, 2008.

5. An expansion was released for a "nothing special" Diablo clone. Silverfall: Earth Awakening; Jul 22, 2008.

6. The Germans got to enjoy something we won't get until January 2009. Drakensang: The Dark Eye; Aug 1, 2008.

7. Gas Powered Games decided Dungeon Siege needed to get a face-lift and released the same game but this time set in Space. Space Siege; Aug 12, 2008.

8. The Witcher got a FREE over-hyped patch and CD Projekt announced that it would get even more patched for consoles. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition; Sep 16, 2008.

9. An indie game that hasn't really changed much at all since BETA finally got slapped with a version 1.0 sticker. Mount & Blade; Sep 16, 2008.

10. Some tactical combat thing that people seem to be enjoying apparently has role-playing elements. King's Bounty: The Legend; Sep 23, 2008.

11. I still don't really know what this is but we covered it so it's in the list. Hinterland; Sep 30, 2008.

12. Bethesda released Oblivion again. Only this time they added guns. Fallout 3; Oct 28, 2008.

13. "Yet Another Diablo Clone" that doesn't seem worth bothering about. Kivi's Underworld; Nov 4, 2008.

14. Ascaron thought it'd be funny if they released an even buggier game than CD Projekt. Unfortunately they don't get to use the excuse that it's their first attempt at making computer games. Still, the patches that keep adding extra content are nice. Sacred 2; Nov 11, 2008.

15. Well-known mod-makers Obsidian Entertainment released another mod for a game they didn't originally make. On the bright side, they did spread a lot of news about their very first stand-alone game which isn't something BioWare did first or asked them to do. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir; Nov 18, 2008.

16.Gothic 3 got a buggy Indian expansion that no-one actually likes. Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods; Nov 21, 2008.

You'll note a common theme in the list. This year was the year of patches, games that desperately need patches or games that are simply re-releases of games we've had before but with minor differences (like they were patched into a new setting). In fact, while half of the games in that list are technically new titles, 3 of them aren't actually RPGs (9, 10, 11) and only make the list because we're desperate for anything that's even remotely RPG-like. If we do a break-down by the numbers we've got 4 sequels (25%), 3 expansion packs (19%), 3 not RPGs (19%), 1 adventure game (6%), 1 German thing (6%), the same BioWare story you've all played before (6%), Dungeon Siege in space (6%) and 1 over-hyped patch (6%). Oh yeah and that Kivi thingo. Yay. Let's hear it for the RPGs of 2008! Hip-hip...

[Silence]

... but before we go through the more prominent releases of 2008 in a little more depth, let's take a look at what else happened this year.

The full article can be found here.

 

Read this when it was first released a couple of months ago. It's alright until it degenerates into a long-winded rant about The Witcher. Considering I haven't played the game and that it wasn't even released in 2008 to begin with, it kinda destroys the whole point of the article. I have to say the older years in review were much more entertaining.