Rock Paper Shotgun has released its sixth Christmas Cracker for 2025, continuing a year-end tradition that blends humor with a sense of gaming culture. The post gathers eight RPS scribes who contribute a compact suite of jokes, verse, and lighthearted pieces designed for readers winding down after a busy year. The piece leans into the fatigue of twelve months’ graft and doubles as a friendly nudge toward supporters, underscoring how the site sustains its creative community while inviting continued reader involvement.
At its center lies a short, self-deprecating verse that frames the cracker as a collective effort. The eight writers are described as bearing jokes and, as the text goes, having “knackered” after a year of work; the piece ends with an invitation that “January leading, still proceeding” and a tease about patronage: readers are urged to subscribe to Supporters posts as the team moves forward into the new year. “We eight scribes from RPS are, Bearing jokes, we wrote in the past, Christmas crackers, god we’re knackered, After twelve months of graft. O, reader of wonder, loved the most, Why not subscribe to Supporters posts? January leading, still proceeding, See you once we’ve munched our roasts,” reads as a playful, meta nod to the site’s production cycle.
One of the cracker’s highlights is a succinct joke that punctuates the overall mood: a Q-and-A that trades on culinary wordplay. Q: What do you call a cream-filled French pastry you can’t identify? A: Eclair Obscur. The exchange sits within the broader carry of the piece, which uses brisk humor to keep readers engaged while acknowledging the year’s labor behind the scenes.
The accompanying visuals (provided as inline media) reinforce the festive, tongue-in-cheek tone. An illustration titled Horace Christmas Frankenstein appears in mid-article, complementing the jokes with a cartoonish, holiday-tinged aesthetic. [Image: Christmas Frankenstein illustration]
From a cultural standpoint, the Christmas Cracker format functions as a collective ritual within gaming media. By assembling jokes, verse, and a light monologue about the year’s workload, the piece creates a sense of shared experience among contributors and readers alike. The explicit plea to subscribe to Supporters posts underscores how this tradition also serves as a bridge to ongoing funding for independent writing, a practical nod to the realities of producing niche gaming content in a crowded media landscape.
The tone remains warm and self-aware rather than sharp or inflammatory, aligning with gaming journalism’s tradition of seasonal goodwill. The humor is pun-forward and pun-laden, relying on quick setups and a final twist that rewards readers who stay through the piece. In a year when many outlets struggle to balance production demands with community-building, the Christmas Cracker embodies a compact, low-stakes format that reinforces reader loyalty without turning the page into overt marketing.
The second image, a close-up variant of the same illustration, appears toward the end to maintain visual engagement without diluting the text’s rhythm. Its presence helps close the piece with a festive visual cue, echoing the playful spirit of the jokes while signaling the ongoing life of the site beyond the holiday season.
Overall, the sixth RPS Christmas Cracker 2025 demonstrates how gaming outlets can celebrate their community at year’s end while foregrounding sustainability. It foregrounds collaboration, humor, and a friendly reminder that the site’s best work often comes from writers who have spent a year hustling behind the scenes. The piece succeeds in delivering a short, shareable moment of levity that still feels distinctive to Rock Paper Shotgun’s voice, making it a noteworthy entry in the site’s evolving holiday tradition.