Albion - gets a Windows/Linux port

One of the best RPGs of the 90s - Albion - gets a Windows/Linux port. A BIG thanks to Indie Retro News for reporting this:

What a great start to Friday as we've just come across a fantastic bit of news of which may send a slight tingle down the spines of retro gaming RPG players across the globe! And that news is a fan based release of the Windows/Linux port of Albion; one of my all time favourite RPG's released by Blue Byte Software in 1995!

From the moment you start the game with the beeps and bops of the ship, to the crash of your shuttle into the supposedly desert world you knew you were in for a treat. The graphics for it's time were incredibly lush with vivid landscapes of intense flora and textured rocks. But what really set the game apart from most RPG's and not just the amazing characters you could talk to, was the interactive 2D top down view and 3D first person dungeon crawling combat. It was as if it was two games moulded into one, and two great games at that. The immersion of Albion was also top of it's class, with sound effects such as the local wildlife, or from eery cave dwelling beasties.

I could go on and on about this game and how it's stuck in my mind as one of the best games I ever ever played, but I wont spoil it any more for those of you who haven't played it. It's time for you to enjoy the game as much as I did, especially now as the Windows and Linux port has been released.

You can download the mod here - click on the English flag (Albion is required).



More information.

I think everybody knows already that I'm fan #1 of Albion.

Albion never did it for me mechanically. But I guess had I played it when it came out, my younger me would have been totally absorbed by that alien universe. Such immersion doesn't happen anymore, sadly.

That's pretty good news! I've been meaning to re-visit this game after all these years and even set it up with DOSBOX a while ago, but I couldn't get into it at the time. Part of that was because there are some great contemporary titles being released and part of it is like Sacred_Path mentions: the immersion I often felt during my youth, seldom manifests itself with the same intensity these days. (thirty-something woes I guess )

I was already 27 in 1995 and enjoyed the game 3 times since then.

Never tried when it was released back in 1995. Looks pretty solid, another one to add to my backlog…

Originally Posted by HiddenX
I was already 27 in 1995 and enjoyed the game 3 times since then.

I find that very hopeful It's not that I cannot enjoy RPG's these days, but their settings and stories used to engage me sooner and deeper when I was younger. Albion was great in this regard. A novel world to explore and exotic inhabitants to meet. Would have been nice if it had a sequel or spin-off.

Was a fantastic game!

Albion was one of the first rpg's I ever played and also one of the most enjoyable. I just wish it was available on GOG so I could buy it again.

Originally Posted by zypek
Albion was one of the first rpg's I ever played and also one of the most enjoyable. I just wish it was available on GOG so I could buy it again.

You get the English version on Ebay for $100+ and the German version for $30+.
Nobody sells this game nowadays, so you can download it at Abandonia.com - one of the best sites for retro gamers.

-> Vote to get it on GOG.

I am such a lazy gamer. Configuring games is just so behind me nowadays, which is why I love Steam and GOG.

Hey, HiddenX, why don't you fly over to my house and install my game copy for me? There's pizza and mountain dew in the deal. And we have a great pool.

Los Angeles? Sounds good to me - you have all these pretty starlets there
but unfortunately I've to play The Witcher 3…

Oh wow, that was a great game, I absolutely loved it, and it was one of the games that made me kinda' jealous I didn't have a PC back then.

However, good as it is, I guess many people here haven't played Amberstar and Ambermoon then, the two RPG's they made before Albion. I'm not sure they got a PC version (Amiga <3 ), but they are FANTASTIC games, much in the same vein (especially Ambermoon, which is even the same engine), some of my all-time favourites. Amberstar is a bit older, but has great music and atmosphere and Ambermoon takes place in the same world, continuing the story.

So, everyone who likes/loves Albion (as they should), check out the Amber games too If you have the time, those games are quite huge and do not hold your hand.

How many happy memories! The box is in my shelves and looks beautiful. This is a good excuse for replaying it.


Thanks to HiddenX for download link. It is way easier and faster than installing from CD.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
You get the English version on Ebay for $100+ and the German version for $30+.
Nobody sells this game nowadays, so it is legal to download it at Abandonia.com - one of the best sites for retro gamers.

-> Vote to get it on GOG.

Correcting misinformation: Not under U.S. law. The best you could say is that it's less morally objectionable. But it's still illegal whether the game is available or not.

Originally Posted by Bedwyr
Correcting misinformation: Not under U.S. law. The best you could say is that it's less morally objectionable. But it's still illegal whether the game is available or not.

From abandonia.com:

Are all your games abandonware?

Yes. We used to have freeware games as well, but we decided they were important enough to create a whole new site dedicated just to them. It is called Abandonia Reloaded and you can find it on http://www.reloaded.org. We also have exclusive rights to host some of the games on the site. Only the copyright holder can give this kind of permission.

What is Abandonware? Is it legal?

Wikipedia: "Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. Alternately, the term is also used for software which is still available, but on which further support and development has been deliberately discontinued."

Since the software is no longer sold or supported, the copyright holders are not directly harmed in any way. This is why abandonware sites are, for the most part, ignored by the law.

The distribution of copyrighted software however is, and will always be, illegal!

These guys know exactly what they are doing and have very good contacts to the industry.

I'll be buying this once it hits gog or steam…..just not that savvy to do it on my own. Great memories of this one, and I look forward to playing it again, hopefully soonish.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
From abandonia.com:



These guys know exactly what they are doing and have very good contacts to the industry.

That's a fig leaf you're citing and has zip to do with actual legality. Before you get your dander up and gearing up for an argument, let me be absolutely clear about my positions.

- You've suggested two legal sources from which to buy. That's great and puts a lot of points in your favor. I won't remotely question whether your intent is honorable. I also agree that Albion is otherwise near impossible to find.

- As surprising as it might be given what I just said in the earlier post, I'm actually somewhat supportive of Abandonia.

But here's the difference.

- I never ever claim that what Abandonia is doing is legal. It's illegal unless I can see a license from Ubisoft saying they can distribute it. They're the ones with the rights to the game and the ones who get to tell who can and can't distribute their stuff.

- I'm sympathetic to the ethical argument that given there is no reasonable distribution and therefore minimal harm to Ubisoft. But that's not the same as a legal argument.

- There is a place for old bootleg stuff to continue having a resource for collective culture. The benefits of that outweigh the minimal-to-no harm done to Ubisoft. And so I support Abandonia on this.

But, again, I never claim that it's legal. It's effectively a small act of civil disobedience. The harm is minimal and the societal benefit is large and so as an act of civil disobedience it's arguably a good thing in the long run.

- I also acknowledge that Abandonia likely knows developers, artists, and creators who understand and support what they're doing. But more than likely they know that it's illegal as well. That's probably why you hardly ever get them voicing their support publicly.

And here's a big one.

- GOG does it all the right way. They get actual licenses from actual rights holders and there is no way on this earth that they distribute if they don't have the rights. Partly because of their notoriety and partly because it is a profitable business, rights holder would absolutely notice. It would end their business. The only reason Abandonia gets away with it is because rights holders know enough not to press their claims against a leaderless hydra. They tried that before and, well, that's how HOTU and Abandonia came into existence. As the man in Jurassic Park said, "Clever girl." Anyhow, GOG found a business model convincing rights holders that they could essentially subcontract out all the work needed to get old libraries working again. GOG knows *exactly* what the law says about this, believe me.


So here's what I want from you.

- Acknowledge that it's illegal or at least don't make any claim that it is, in fact, legal. Again, if it's legal I want to see the license Ubisoft gave them to distribute. I've actually seen that before, believe it or not. I'm a 'Mech fan and got a free copy of Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries from a small group called MekTek (since defunct, license expired) who got actual legal permission from Microsoft to distribute the game. It's not common, but it happens.

- Don't claim in articles you post that something like this is legal. I don't think I've seen anyone do it yet, but in advance it's not. And in keeping with the civil disobedience theme, I'll bet you don't make a habit of posting Abandonia links on the news articles. Probably because it's not actually legal?

- Most importantly, acknowledge that accuracy matters. The more people distribute bullshit about how copyright law works, the more confused bullshit has to be overcome so that we can help create better copyright law that better balances society's interests with creators' interests. I *hate* how copyright law works right now and want it to change. The length of time and the limitations fair use has are holding back our culture and technology. But it really helps when people stop spreading misinformation about how the damned thing actually works in practice. It took awhile, but I finally got myself straight on how it largely works but had to clear away a metric ton of rubbish beliefs about it.


That's the deal. I'm not getting on Abandonia's case. I wish them well. I'm not even getting on your case (yet), but I do want pinpoint truth. Not wishy-washy "truthiness" getting spread around.

Software hosted on Abandonia

Abandonia's definition of abandonware is one of the more clearly defined (and possibly the most restrictive) in the abandonware scene. In order for a game to be considered abandoned - and therefore hosted on the site - it has to pass three very specific criteria:

• First, the game has to be unavailable on the retail market and no longer distributed by its publishers nor by legitimate retailers in any form.
• Second, official support for the game must have been dropped both by its publisher and developer.
• Third, the game must not be under active protection of any anti-piracy agency, such as Entertainment Software Association, nor directly by the copyright holders themselves. If a legitimate copyright holder for any game requests its removal, any downloads of it (or links to thereof) present on the site and its forum will be subject to removal by site staff (although the review of the game would still remain onsite).

Only the PC version of the game needs to fulfill the above three criteria: whether any console versions do or do not is considered irrelevant, as Abandonia follows a strict policy to not deal with ROMs or disk images for non-PC systems.

If the site staff discovers that one of the games placed on the site no longer fulfills one of those criteria or has been accidentally misqualified as Abandonware when it was not such, they remove any downloads of that game on their own initiative.[4]

In order to facilitate status identification for games not yet introduced in its abandonware list, the staff of Abandonia maintains a constantly updated list of known ESA member and subsidiary companies which can be found incorporated in the ruleset of the site's Requests forum.[5]

I think it's the best controlled abandonware site on the net. If you have a problem with the word legal - I replaced it.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Software hosted on Abandonia



I think it's the best controlled abandonware site on the net. If you have a problem with the word legal - I replaced it.

Thanks. I'm with you. Abandonia conducts itself ethically. But that accuracy thing matters; it really does.