Saddening Tribute to Reign of Chaos

Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos Battle.net Background Screenshot by Kacpa.

Previously I talked about certain topics related to Alpha and Beta versions of Warcraft 3. Now, the time has come to visit Reign of Chaos in its finalized form and dedicate our attention to it. This time it's going to be slightly different though, as the point of my interest is more global. Original game kept me curious for some time now: ladder, differences from the expansion & "re-release/remaster" and just how it kept going after those updates for all these years.

Perhaps it didn't hold on most of community's attention after The Frozen Throne was released. but there're still players who plays and prefers the original Warcraft 3's gameplay over expansion and current version. That's just one of the reasons why I decided to talk about Reign of Chaos, but let's stop extending this introduction and move on to exploring this chapter of game's life.

A Couple of Thoughts about Minecraft Live 2021

Minecraft Live 2021 Thumbnail. Taken from YouTube.

Minecraft Live 2021 just wrapped up, which means it's time to share some of my thoughts about what I consider to be cool or interesting. At first, I think it's no surprise that pretty much no gaming event goes perfectly. There's always something that drags it a bit for a specific person: from cringe performance and clear fillers to technical issues with lack of appealing announcements. For me, it was mostly the first half as I don't really have any expectations this time around. Probably due to rather intense and rough daily routine.

I guess you can say that they were making up for the lack of new YouTube videos from those famous scuffed interviews from Minecon. It would've been nice to see Mojang not play it too safe for once and just embrace the memes... Anyway, I'll keep this short and focus just on two things, similarly to QuakeCon 2021. I'm out of the loop when it comes to Minecraft Dungeons to really comment on its updates, getting both versions of Minecraft on Xbox Game Pass is just good and Blockbench looks neat.

Discontinued Legacy of Infiniminer

Infiniminer Screenshot. Taken from Zachtronics Industries.

Being the first doesn't always guarantee the success and popularity for anyone or anything. Whenever it's fair or not shall be determined on case-by-case situations, but at the end that's just part of how things go in life. I've already talked about Chasm: The Rift a few weeks ago, and I don't want to stop there when it comes to highlighting lesser known titles. That's pretty interesting subject for me lately, so I figured that it's time to pick another hidden gem and there's a very good candidate for it. Especially at this point in time.

As a part of celebration of the upcoming Minecraft Live 2021, it felt just right to go back to the basics with Infiniminer: the game that, despite its pretty short lifespan, did kick off the trend of using blocks in video games. The actual story of Infiniminer is both tragic and funny (depending on your perspective), but its legacy is legendary. So I would like to pay the proper tribute to this game by just telling its story and reminding you about it.

A Little Chat: Matthew "Revae" Little

REKKR: Sunken Land Screenshot. Taken from Steam.

There's a lot going in our lives right now and, often it directly impacts what we can and can't do. While it's not getting easier for me overall (far from it), I've managed to at least dedicate some of my time to this blog. It's during moments like this I was able to reach out to one and only Matthew "Revae" Little, the creator of REKKR, to have "a little chat" about the upcoming expanded version of his total conversion with the subtitle "Sunken Land" that's coming out today, as well as his new hobby and other things in general.

Before getting started, I would like to thank Revae again for giving me this opportunity: it was an honor, and now I must make sure that I actually play REKKR in the near future. If you're on the same boat as me, you can try out the original free version of the game that's still freely available here in case you want to try it out before venturing into the Sunken Land. Also, make sure you read his Nods to Mods interview at the Slayers Club as this "article" will serve as unofficial follow up to that.

Wonderland of PICO-8

PICO-8 Startup Screen.

We're always learning something new and that's pretty great. Being able to discover something you've never really seen before can drastically change our lives for better or worse. From a specific game and hardware to new activities and people, there's something new waiting for us on daily bases. Although sometimes it's more about learning more about that thing or person you've heard about before at some point in the past. Latter has been one of recurring themes in my life the last couple of months and there're many topics I could pick from that.

Deeper you go into your favorite hobby, the more you start to learn. Even despite your wishes, but it's not to say that's a bad thing. On the contrary, sometimes it allows you to stumble across some of the smallest, niche and beautiful things there is and PICO-8 is one of those wonders. What is so special about it, you might ask? Well, I would like to try my best to answer that question with pleasure.

Why Chasm: The Rift wasn't Reopened

Chasm: The Rift Screenshot. Taken from MobyGames.

Status of many games changes with passage of time. While some titles earn their rightful place within the industry as an "all-time classic" with cult following, there're many other examples that were less fortunate. There're many examples where you can argue whenever the game deserved the overall reputation it got or if it needs more or less attention, but that's all a thing of the past for the most part. Luckily for us, time is often acts like a cycle (I'm well aware of that, trust me) and that allows certain "hidden gems" to capture player's attention yet again with different results from their original release and perception.

Each situation is unique in details as there're many factors that play its role in such scenario: from a company acquiring the rights to re-release a specific game commercially or as a freeware to an enthusiast putting it on Internet's spotlight through article or video. Anyway, people discover such title for the first time or go back to that obscure game they couldn't quite remember from their past and Chasm: The Rift is one of the great examples of that. I wanted to talk about it for a while now to show what's the deal with it and why it didn't make a "proper comeback" in a way of an actual re-release on digital platforms or gained an aformentioned freeware status in favor of abandonware.

Catching Up on Diablo 2: Resurrected

"Champions United" Art.

Seeing the announcement of Diablo 2: Resurrected back in BlizzConline 2021 was pretty interesting, to say the least. First impressions are usually overly positive, especially with Vicarious Visions on board of Blizzard's sinking ship... It's not, but you know what I'm saying. I was pretty excited after the event and looked forward to observing the progress on Resurrected for different reason: my interest in Diablo franchise was slowly growing in last few years and I just had to stay on guard and compare it with Warcraft 3: Reforged.

However, I didn't follow the news on Diablo 2's remaster as close as I originally wanted. That was probably due to my messy routine and reclusive nature, I can't say for sure. Either way, I didn't have clear enough perspective on this release to truly determine how well Blizzard and Vicarious Visions did their job. Since Resurrected should be released in a day this post gets published, I wanted to take that opportunity to simply catch up and go over a few aspects of its development and see how well Diablo 2 was actually treated.