Albion

Episodes – DOS Game Club

In 1995 Blue Byte released Albion, an ambitious 2D/3D scifi/fantasy RPG, exclusively for MS-DOS PCs. It's made by some of the same people who previously, under the banner of Thalion Software, made Amberstar and Ambermoon, an ambitious series of RPGs that shares some cosmetic similarities with Albion. But despite this overlap, Albion is very much its own game and story.

The story revolves around Tom Driscoll and Rainar Hofstedt, who take a shuttle from the interstellar spaceship Toronto to the remote desert planet of Albion. It's the year 2227 and the DDT corporation is planning to stripmine the planet for its resources. A shuttle malfunction causes Tom and Rainar to crashland onto the planet surface where they are rescued and welcomed by the Iskai, an intelligent cat-like species with a rich history and culture. Tom & Rainar quickly find out the planet is far from the deserted wasteland they were lead to believe and it's up to them to save it from DDT's plans.

Sadly our regular co-host Florian ("rnlf") decided to skip this month because it's a very big game and he couldn't find the time to play it enough to do it justice. Helping out host Martijn ("Tijn") instead is veteran DGC member Jozef ("yozy"), who is a long-time fan of Albion and even suggested we play it. Our two guests also have a long history with Albion: first of all returning from a while ago we have David ("DavidN") back on to join us. And last but not least Ben Chandler delighted us with his presence, who you might know as the graphic artist from Wadjet Eye Games among other things.

We also got two voice messages, which we're always very happy to receive. Much thanks to Peter ("pointer") and Raphael ("Ninetongues") for sending them in!

https://www.dosgameclub.com/podcast/2023/02/ep77.mp3

[ download mp3 ] (141 mins, 162 MB)

RELEVANT LINKS:

* Thread with magazine reviews on our forums, some scanned by Pix from his own collection

* Ambersun (previously Albion), David's power metal band

* Ben Chandler's blog

* Albion fan Discord

* Albion wiki

* A great oldschool Albion fan site by IS4

* Albion soundtrack in multiple formats

* UAlbion a work-in-progress remake of Albion for modern platforms

* We talked to two of the developers of Albion in episode 76