Latest Comments by kaiman
The Complete Inkle Library Humble Bundle has some lovely narrative puzzle adventure games
11 Jun 2026 at 5:36 pm UTC
11 Jun 2026 at 5:36 pm UTC
Too bad I already have all of those except for Expelled! and TR-49.
Can recommend the bundle for Heaven's Vault and the novelization alone, though. I guess from an art perspective, HV may not appeal to everyone, in the way it mixes 3D environments with 2D character sprites, but if exploration is your thing, and you enjoy a plot that seems to form effortlessly around your actions and discoveries, there's nothing better.
The novels (part 1 and 2) retell the events of the game, offering some more background on certain characters and events, and felt like a nice addition to the game itself. I read them a couple years after playing the game, which may or may not have affected my perception. Liked the writing style, though. Part 3 and 4 expand on the background and secrets of the Nebula, and while I'd rather have played HV2, they are better than nothing. Writing is good, again, but I thought certain things that came to light were a bit meh. Sometimes, it's perhaps preferable that not all mysteries are resolved.
Can recommend the bundle for Heaven's Vault and the novelization alone, though. I guess from an art perspective, HV may not appeal to everyone, in the way it mixes 3D environments with 2D character sprites, but if exploration is your thing, and you enjoy a plot that seems to form effortlessly around your actions and discoveries, there's nothing better.
The novels (part 1 and 2) retell the events of the game, offering some more background on certain characters and events, and felt like a nice addition to the game itself. I read them a couple years after playing the game, which may or may not have affected my perception. Liked the writing style, though. Part 3 and 4 expand on the background and secrets of the Nebula, and while I'd rather have played HV2, they are better than nothing. Writing is good, again, but I thought certain things that came to light were a bit meh. Sometimes, it's perhaps preferable that not all mysteries are resolved.
Embracer Group split again spinning off their biggest IP, along with plans for IP partnerships
20 May 2026 at 6:03 pm UTC Likes: 1
20 May 2026 at 6:03 pm UTC Likes: 1
Fellowship will have control over the likes of The Lord of the Rings [...] along with being the home of [...] Warhorse Studios.So the rumors that Warhorse might be working on a LotR RPG cannot yet be debunked :-).
Ubuntu 26.04 ('Resolute Raccoon') LTS is out now
24 Apr 2026 at 1:53 pm UTC
But yay for the fresh Kernel (this time round I was always too lazy to manually install a more recent one, and from my experience with 22.04 at some point the version of glibc present on the system prevented further upgrading anyway, and then you're stuck without security fixes). Using an up-to-date Mesa from a PPA isn't a big deal though, and will soon enough be required for 26.04 as well.
Gnome 50 will likely again break half my extensions (as did Gnome 46), and since I do little more with the system than browsing the web and playing games, I don't think any of its features really make any difference to me. Perhaps if I had a display with HDR support.
Nonetheless, upgrade I will come 26.04.1.
24 Apr 2026 at 1:53 pm UTC
it's now Wayland-onlyI'm still running 24.04 with X11, so wonder how smooth the upgrade will go, and what will break.
But yay for the fresh Kernel (this time round I was always too lazy to manually install a more recent one, and from my experience with 22.04 at some point the version of glibc present on the system prevented further upgrading anyway, and then you're stuck without security fixes). Using an up-to-date Mesa from a PPA isn't a big deal though, and will soon enough be required for 26.04 as well.
Gnome 50 will likely again break half my extensions (as did Gnome 46), and since I do little more with the system than browsing the web and playing games, I don't think any of its features really make any difference to me. Perhaps if I had a display with HDR support.
Nonetheless, upgrade I will come 26.04.1.
Crusader Kings III gets a new major patch and Chapter V expansion pass
20 Apr 2026 at 9:11 pm UTC Likes: 1
That means I kinda got my wish. More depth for trade, and more depth for playing in Europe.
And it seems the issue that regularly drained my treasury is fixed (or I just had a very lucky streak). On the downside, my 61yo character now looks like a shriveled grape, and I had to give up 6 of my 15 holdings due to the domain limit rebalancing. Ah well, it's not like I was attached to most of them anyway.
20 Apr 2026 at 9:11 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: TriasParadox's DLC classification is a bit confusing, yes, but "Major" expansion is considered to be bigger then a "Core" one.Ah, that would make more sense, then. I guess what got me was the last dev diary talking about By God Alone, and also the order in which they were presented today.
That means I kinda got my wish. More depth for trade, and more depth for playing in Europe.
And it seems the issue that regularly drained my treasury is fixed (or I just had a very lucky streak). On the downside, my 61yo character now looks like a shriveled grape, and I had to give up 6 of my 15 holdings due to the domain limit rebalancing. Ah well, it's not like I was attached to most of them anyway.
Crusader Kings III gets a new major patch and Chapter V expansion pass
20 Apr 2026 at 4:53 pm UTC Likes: 1
20 Apr 2026 at 4:53 pm UTC Likes: 1
Hm, I'm happy for the patch to be out (and hope it actually fixes the issue I have with my ongoing campaign), but neither of the two expansions have me reaching for my wallet. I guess By God Alone may enrich gameplay in Europe and perhaps some of the changes to the Faith mechanics may apply elsewhere, too, but it's not on the same level as, say, Tournaments or China.
Silk & Silver on the other hand feels like it's deserving to be a core expansion, and so will likely end up too shallow and too separate from existing systems and mechanics.
I'd rather have liked seeing something that deepens an existing system or region (like By God Alone apparently does), with more events, more choice, more variety.
But I'll follow the dev diaries (at least those are almost always fun!) and perhaps let myself be convinced that my fears are unfounded and there's tons of exciting stuff included. No pre-ordering this time, though.
Silk & Silver on the other hand feels like it's deserving to be a core expansion, and so will likely end up too shallow and too separate from existing systems and mechanics.
I'd rather have liked seeing something that deepens an existing system or region (like By God Alone apparently does), with more events, more choice, more variety.
But I'll follow the dev diaries (at least those are almost always fun!) and perhaps let myself be convinced that my fears are unfounded and there's tons of exciting stuff included. No pre-ordering this time, though.
Infinity Engine open source remake GemRB 0.9.5 gets Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition playable
24 Mar 2026 at 5:51 pm UTC Likes: 3
GemRB on the other hand is a rewrite from scratch, so they never had the original code for any of the games to begin with.
Doesn't mean Beamdog couldn't have possibly reverse engineered the bits required to make IWD2 work on top of what they already had, but I guess it may not have been cost-effective, and if they got it wrong they'd piss off their paying customers.
24 Mar 2026 at 5:51 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: SalvatosWait, they support Icewind Dale 2 even though Beamdog said they couldn't make an Enhanced Edition for it? Huh!From what I heard, the source code / assets of IWD2 were lost, and the EEs Beamdog did were all based on the original stuff.
GemRB on the other hand is a rewrite from scratch, so they never had the original code for any of the games to begin with.
Doesn't mean Beamdog couldn't have possibly reverse engineered the bits required to make IWD2 work on top of what they already had, but I guess it may not have been cost-effective, and if they got it wrong they'd piss off their paying customers.
Epic Games just laid off over 1,000 people
24 Mar 2026 at 5:39 pm UTC Likes: 10
24 Mar 2026 at 5:39 pm UTC Likes: 10
Sad for all those people losing their job in the current market situation. Might be tough to find something in games, and possibly in other software industries, too.
Though the thing I always find fascinating in instances like this: what did those 1000 people do that doesn't need doing any more?
Having myself always worked in smaller companies (or within smaller departments of large companies), where projects rarely had more than a dozen developers (and at times only one or two), I wonder how much efficiency is lost due to bureaucracy and coordination required between all those people. Though to be honest, in my current position as one of six, I spend about 80% of my time with coordination, reviews, meetings, presentations and support. The other 20% are then divided between coffee breaks and coding. I guess in a much bigger team, you'd have people specifically dedicated to coffee breaks only ;-).
Though the thing I always find fascinating in instances like this: what did those 1000 people do that doesn't need doing any more?
Having myself always worked in smaller companies (or within smaller departments of large companies), where projects rarely had more than a dozen developers (and at times only one or two), I wonder how much efficiency is lost due to bureaucracy and coordination required between all those people. Though to be honest, in my current position as one of six, I spend about 80% of my time with coordination, reviews, meetings, presentations and support. The other 20% are then divided between coffee breaks and coding. I guess in a much bigger team, you'd have people specifically dedicated to coffee breaks only ;-).
Letter from the owner - our stance on generative AI
13 Mar 2026 at 3:11 pm UTC Likes: 7
13 Mar 2026 at 3:11 pm UTC Likes: 7
Aipreciated!
Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns brings the absolute classic to a modern audience
13 Mar 2026 at 3:04 pm UTC Likes: 4
13 Mar 2026 at 3:04 pm UTC Likes: 4
That's one of the classics where I'm not sure if I'd actually enjoy it today.
The graphics were absolutely superb, and I guess that might have glossed over the glaring deficiencies in gameplay. The strategy part was fairly minimalist. Firing catapults at castle walls was fun. Sword-fighting was manageable, but don't ask what the best way to go about it was, other than frantically clicking away with the mouse. No clue how to pull off the tournament.
And the major selling point, the kiss scene, certainly hit different at age 12 than it would now :-).
The graphics were absolutely superb, and I guess that might have glossed over the glaring deficiencies in gameplay. The strategy part was fairly minimalist. Firing catapults at castle walls was fun. Sword-fighting was manageable, but don't ask what the best way to go about it was, other than frantically clicking away with the mouse. No clue how to pull off the tournament.
And the major selling point, the kiss scene, certainly hit different at age 12 than it would now :-).
Civilization VII major update "Test of Time" will stop the forced civ swapping
3 Feb 2026 at 4:52 pm UTC Likes: 3
3 Feb 2026 at 4:52 pm UTC Likes: 3
Improving on the Civilization formula is really not that simple. Change it too much and people complain it's no longer Civilization. Change it too little and people see no reason to upgrade from the previous installment.
Perhaps with some things there comes a point where they are as perfect as can be, and any change will only make them worse. Though I guess plenty people will argue that Civilization VI wasn't at that point yet.
Perhaps with some things there comes a point where they are as perfect as can be, and any change will only make them worse. Though I guess plenty people will argue that Civilization VI wasn't at that point yet.