One of the oldies I would like to talk about today is “Albion” by the German developer Blue Byte. The game was released in the era I still had a low tier PC (Pentium 60) and majority of my software was taken from the free cover CD-ROMs that came with magazines. In one of those, a really weird one, was a demo of this game. I was a seasoned c-rpg gamer back then already, with years of experience in the genre, so I had a lot of expectations. “Albion” provided, and to this day, remains one of my top favourite rpgs.

My expectations were quite simple: I wanted a great, rememberable storyline, unique protagonists I could understand and I could identify with, a compelling and consistent world, and of course, captivating game mechanics. Simple, right?

The story takes us into the year 2230, onboard the scientific-colonization spaceship “Toronto”, belonging to DDT Corp, into the mind and body of Tom Driscoll, a shuttle pilot, who is about to embark on a scout mission to the planet Toronto is currently orbiting. First few hours of game can be spent onboard that spaceship, with its futuristic, metallic surroundings, a hyper-smart ship A.I., cyborgs and security guards, and of course crew, amongs which Tom has some friends, a girlfriend, and a soon to be companion Rainer Hofstedt, a physicist and xenobiologist. The thing is, one of Tom’s acquaintances was killed in a strange accident in a hardware terminal area of the ship, and everything is so vague, while, additionally, ship A.I. urges Tom and Rainer to hurry up and start the shuttle mission to make the low orbit survey of the barren planet – according to all “Toronto”‘s computers and sensors –  I immediately sensed something fishy here. So, instead of directly going to the launch bay, I started investigating.

During my investigation I was able to find a hidden entrance to the tech ducts, acquire a plasma pistol (a forbidden item for a simple crewman), smuggle it up from the tunnels with me, find the accident place and learn it shows signs of murder (why would the captain and the security want to cover it up?). At the time, I had a backpack filled with a lot of items, toothbrush, two mugs, first-aid kits, rags and even a pillow. And all that before the real adventure actually started – these were the deciding factors of why the game won me already, even before it even started. I was an immediate fanboy. Oh how many storytelling attempts nowadays forget that a convincing, interactive storytelling  has to let you do seemingly poitless things, like gathering toohbrushes, because it builds up the world and the character you are playing. This is the storyline filler, the ultimate metaplot mechanic generator – the story you tell yourself while exploring the story relayed to you by others.

When I was ready I finally headed towards the shuttle bay (with all the stuff I had) and started the mission. Everything went smoothly with Hofstedt, until there was a circuit problem on the shuttle and all communications with “Toronto” were severed. The shuttle dove towards the barren, airless and lifeless planet surface. Only Tom’s skill saved heroes from crashing to their deaths, but to what end, I asked myself – they surely will die from exposure?

When the shuttle hit the planet and Tom and Rainer escaped its hull, ready to risk their lives outside rather than to remain in a soon-to-be fireball, they discovered the planet is a wonderful paradise, and not barren at all. The fantastical pillars of rainclouds rose over the beautiful jungle, full of commotion. Years after, during watching of the “Avatar” movie, I was bitter because I could see how much the “Avatar” has taken from Roger Dean (an artist who we’ll return to while talking about another game soon) and the “Albion”. And I’d rather have “Albion” instead of “Avatar”…

The shuttle explodes and our heroes  loose counciousness, to wake up later… among the catlike, intelligent race, the Iskai. What is happening? Why does DDT and “Toronto” try to hide that the planet is actually populated by intelligent , civilized race and full of life. Above intelligent, because, apparently, Iskai know…magic. I wondered a lot why Iskai are not as amazed of Tom and Rainer as these two are of Iskai, even spending there months and learning the local language (ofc without any rescue attempts from “Toronto”), until another plot development – there are humans on the planet too! Celtic tribes with culture exactly the same as on Earth in antiquity.

So this is the legendary land of  Albion, king Arthur travelled to…. But how?

Sci-fi becomes a fantasy medieval with magic (all neatly explained!) in an epic saga of the clash between the primal nature and the industrial change. A struggle between the new A.I. god versus an ancient magical goddess.  There’s so many layers of the story there I can’t even express it. The murderous power schemes, the weird and forbidden love of human towards an Iskai, the story of beings that became ones with the nature, and a ton, and I mean A TON, of lore, regarding, Iskai, Celts and cyberpunkish reality of DDT. Nowadays there are several games that want to achieve the same level of detail with new techology, and these games are an instant win if they pull this trough (Witcher 3, and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 e.g.) but they seldom reach the level of “Albion”

 

But, apart from the great story and iteractivity, and gimmicky two ways of displaying the world (topdown and first person), the most important thing is how beautiful are the graphics. The exotic visages of Albion’s deserts and jungles still work on me (I played it last October, while on vacation in Greece, in these periods between returning from the beach of Korintian Bay and going to sleep 🙂 ) It really enhances my imagination to the point I can say I just fell in love with the setting.

I wish I could see more of Albion, and from that hunger I have it always installed and tend to replay every few years.

There’s nothing really in the game market these days like the “Albion”.