Dark Sun. Ravenloft. Krynn. All Dungeons & Dragons worlds, and all names I know so well from roleplaying games I never played. In my earliest years of PC gaming, I was limited to games I could beg, borrow or steal from classmates, but I pored through enough magazines to be aware of what was out there and what I didn’t have. I can see the Dark Sun advertisement in my mind even today – and my eyes haven’t seen it for at least 20 years. Lavish, lurid art suggesting fantastical, impossible adventures; adventures I could not have. I read the news that Dark Sun – plus the equally alluring, gothic-themed Ravenloft and the Dragonlance-set Krynn series – is now available digitally (via GOG) for the first time, and I genuinely started as memories of old hunger surged into my forebrain. “It’s there. Now it’s possible. A missing piece of my own history.”
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The one certainty with news items about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. [official site] is there’s at least a 70 percent chance they’ve been planted by Jim. Thanks Jim!

GOG.com continues to blow the horn in support of DRM-free everything with a new game reclaiming service, which you can check it out for yourself in this generously placed link. The idea is that if you bought a game legitimately but the game no longer works because of unsupported DRM or other causes, then you can enter your original game key in order to get a free copy of the game through GOG’s DRM-free online store.

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It bothers me to my core that Toonstruck is not a more widely remembered and adored ’90s adventure. It deserves to be celebrated alongside LucasArts and Sierra, and yet so often goes forgotten. Thankfully, attention is being drawn to it once more as it finally arrives in GOG’s collection. It’s brilliant! You should play it.

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If rambunctious crowds have suddenly taken to the streets around your home, chances are it’s because of the GoG.com summer sale. The site has kicked things up a gear by naming the next portion of its event ADRENALINE RUSH. I hate using the word ‘event’ but sales are about more than discounting products, which is why the Steam one seems like a weird competition that doesn’t make any sense at all.

The ADRENALINE RUSH has a suitably eager description – “A TIDE OF 30 FLASH SALES AT ONCE · 4 SECRET FLASH-GIVEAWAYS · 24 HOURS OF EXCITEMENT”. The first of the giveaways is Omerta: City Of Gangsters, which I didn’t entirely dislike. Rather cheekily, the freebie doesn’t take over the top of the page – looks like you’ll have to scan throught he entire list as the 24 HOURS OF EXCITEMENT continue if you want to find the next free games.

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That’s right – Ultima 1-9, plus the two Underworld games, for the price of a pint. And not one of those fancy craft ales that you’d sup in a tweedy pop-up bar that charges sixteen quid for a thimble filled with ‘paprika-spiced apple cinnamon wedges’ that taste like rancid Doritos. GOG.com are currently offering the Ultima bundle for $7.14. That’s the price of a pint of Carling round these parts, with a pack of Transform-a-Snacks on the side. Ultima is far better for body and soul.

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Yesterday, when I glanced at the new releases on Steam and saw “Descent” I thought, “Huh, someone’s used that name again – well, it has been nineteen years since it came out.” And then I dropped down dead of old age and horror because it’s been nineteen years since Descent came out. I’ve only just recovered from this death, and looked again. No, it’s actually Descent. It’s somehow appeared on Steam. Descent!

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