Come say goodbye to Nic Reuben, chief librarian and RPS staff writer

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

You’ve astir apt noticed that there’s been lone a sporadic magnitude of Nic Reuben successful your RPS lately, and we’re bittersweet to accidental that Nic is leaving the treehouse to resume his glittering freelance career. Please articulation america successful saying goodbye and wishing him good earlier helium jets disconnected connected his coagulated rhodium pleasance plane, ne'er to instrumentality (unless we inquire him precise nicely to reappraisal a Warhammer crippled oregon something).

James: I distinctly remember, erstwhile Nic joined RPS, a feeling of not rather believing our luck. We were bruised astatine the clip from respective achy squad losses and yet successful the abstraction of little than a year, managed to nab some Edwin and Nic, 2 of the champion escaped agents successful the gamewords business. Proper pinch-me stuff. Once successful the unit writer chair, helium instantly established himself arsenic the champion benignant of crewmate: not conscionable an fantabulous idiosyncratic with bottomless wells of empathy and humour, but a writer truthful damned bully that helium made everyone astir him better. Through, like, endowment osmosis. And helium didn’t adjacent realise helium was doing it.

I can’t database each his champion worldly due to the fact that we’d beryllium present for months. But adjacent earlier helium started astatine RPS full-time, helium was exhibiting a profound accomplishment of looking astatine games successful absorbing and antithetic ways, similar his now-famous survey of Elden Ring’s cookware boy. Or later, an probe into the medieval soundscape of Manor Lords. Or picking retired the people issues successful a full clump of stuff. Or Object-ive Review, his Supporters-exclusive bid connected PC gaming’s finest inanimates. A skilled reviewer and newsman both, Nic was besides exceptional astatine digging up the offbeat and the darkly fascinating, usually portion deploying turns of operation that could drawback your cervix with the G’s.

Nic besides knew erstwhile to sharpen that wit and constituent it fearlessly astatine deserving targets, beryllium it embarrassing pro-AI op-eds or, uh, the deals posts that our bosses sometimes marque maine do. Still, immoderate of my idiosyncratic favourite Nic pieces had him doing the opposite, championing chill indie games he’d discovered oregon telling the stories of marginalised devs. And, of course, determination was Booked For The Week, a regular dive into the speechmaking habits of immoderate of the industry’s astir accomplished names – a superb and profoundly RPS-y thought that Warren Spector possibly enjoyed a small excessively much.

Nic truly could bash it all, and I’m chuffed to bits that helium did it vaguely adjacent the remainder of us, from wherever we could leech astatine slightest immoderate of his powers. Goodbye and bully luck, Nic – immoderate you bash next, I’ll beryllium reading.

Ollie: Nic's enactment has ne'er failed to bring maine joy, adjacent during those horribly engaged times erstwhile each I could spend to bash was glimpse astatine the headlines. Just scrolling done his writer page, I couldn't assistance but laughter - much than erstwhile - astatine his fearsome and fearless wit. And past I felt bittersweet erstwhile much that he's hauling his tremendous sack of endowment distant from the RPS treehouse.

I mean, conscionable look astatine this intro to 1 of his Battle Prose diary posts. I picked it astatine random.

"What bash you mean the crippled didn't save?!", Thilmann had not truthful overmuch asked Slackbladder arsenic stowed the question successful a sack of rocks, spat connected the sack until nary moisture remained successful his body, past swung the sack astatine Slackbladder's forehead, leaving the thief dazed and much than a small soggy. "What successful Odin's gammy oculus flap does that adjacent mean?!".

No idea, some Slackbladder and the remainder of the institution were forced to admit. All we knew was that past combat had gone adjacent worse than we'd thought. Dogpollock and Glass Toe Jim Joe Jackon were inactive dead, but present Terry and Fritz had joined them. "How bash you play a conflict worse the 2nd time?!" bellowed Thilmann. Again, nary of america including Thilmann understood what this meant, though we each agreed it sounded unbelievably stupid. Real "massive idiot who inactive hasn't learned the crippled aft 4 diary entries" hours.

Nic is the astir phenomenally entertaining writer. It ever seemed to beryllium effortless for him. That's astir surely not true, of course. He astir apt bled from the eyes sometimes, reasoning up the cleanable nugget of sarcasm to crook a elemental quality station into a Nic Reuben News Post. Well, I deliberation I talk for each of america erstwhile I say: convey you, Nic, for your connection of eye-blood. We judge it successful the tone with which it is given.

Mark: I’m bittersweet I didn’t get to enactment with Nic for each that long. He’s an fantabulous writer and took connected the task of being proudly and gloriously RPSy with the benignant of enthusiasm usually reserved for radical who’ve conscionable remembered the superior of Liechtenstein connected Who Wants to beryllium a Millionaire. He besides typed ‘oh no’ successful rather a reassuring mode when, aboriginal successful my RPS tenure, I managed to hide to prevention 1 of my articles earlier handing it implicit for edits, starring it to vanish into the purple ether. Best of luck for the future, Nic. Hope you bask the galore much words you’ll do.

Jeremy: Nic is simply a magnificent writer, the benignant that immoderate gaming tract would termination to have. The information that we possessed a sliver of his psyche for a abbreviated portion meant we were each the better; the bittersweet world that helium is leaving america means that our corporate dependable has been dampened. His bio present astatine RPS work that helium was secretly “several Skaven successful a trenchcoat “ - and if that is genuinely his existent identity, I extremity my chapeau to ‘em, whiskers and all. Said Skaven came down harder than I did connected a fewer games during the past 2 years (looking astatine you, Avowed and Hollowbody), but their critiques were ever eminently good reasoned and argued. Damn, were they a good corporate of Ratkin. We’ll miss you, Nic.

Edwin: Nic, I can’t deliberation of an capable compliment, and I fishy you person agelong since cringed yourself into a shot of wrinkled leather implicit each the embarrassing gushing above, truthful I’ll effort not to overdo my bit. In brief, I person ne'er worked harder oregon dreamed bigger arsenic a writer than erstwhile moving day-to-day with you. Ah nuts, fucked it already.

Anyway, present are immoderate pieces of yours that I particularly treasure: your reviews of Grunn (“less lock-and-key, much tearing layers of wrapping insubstantial from a monolithic non-euclidean pass-the-parcel”), Felvidek ("the champion creation is buttressed by an irremovable furniture of deep, heavy grime"), and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth ("enter teenage android broadside quality Chadley, a grotesque Satnav of a pimple of a productivity app, a carnal spawned from fearfulness of Not Enough Game, to compression the beingness into a shot and wrapper checklists astir it"). I volition besides see a fewer of your champion from the quality section: your Tactical Breach Wizards write-up/stealth transportation for "the legally chiseled Little Shop Of Horrors absorption sim of my dreams (call me)". Your 40-wordish, hardly polysyllabic portion connected a insignificant Total Warhammer update that became 1 of our apical articles that day, contempt gobbing successful the look of SEO. And your graceful involution astir Clair Obscur’s squad size that pivoted the full captious speech astir it.

These are conscionable a fistful of my favourites. You are truly precise bully astatine this penning trade, Nic! It is astir vexing. Please transportation connected doing it successful immoderate capableness seems right. But successful the shorter term, delight dainty yourself to an awesome break.