Baldur's Gate is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The series has been divided into two sub-series, known as the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance, both taking place mostly within the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga extends to Amn and Tethyr. The Dark Alliance series was released for consoles and was critically and commercially successful. The Bhaalspawn Saga was critically acclaimed for using pausable realtime gameplay, which is credited with revitalizing the computer role-playing game (CRPG) genre.
4X is a subgenre of strategy-based computer and board games, and includes both turn-based and real-time strategy titles. The gameplay generally involves building an empire. Emphasis is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of military and non-military routes to supremacy.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.
Star Wars: X-Wing is a space simulation video game, the first of the X-Wing combat flight simulation games series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance. The narrative precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Kerberos Productions Inc. is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company was formed in 2003 by former employees of Rockstar Vancouver.
Sword of the Stars is a space 4X game developed by Kerberos Productions. In the game the player chooses one of four unique races to form an interstellar empire and conquer the galaxy. In order to win, the player must expand territory by colonizing new star systems, exploit the resources available to their colonies, design and build starships, and improve their empire's technology through research and strategy.
Diablo III is a 2012 hack-and-slash action role-playing game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the Diablo franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2014, and Nintendo Switch in November 2018. Set 20 years after the events of Diablo II, players control one of seven character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, or Wizard – and are tasked with defeating Diablo.
King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame is a real-time tactics and role-playing video game developed by NeocoreGames and published by Paradox Interactive in North America, Ubisoft in Europe, and E-Frontier in Japan. It seeks to blend elements of the real-time tactics, role-playing, and grand strategy genres into one. A sequel titled King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame was released online in Europe on September 20, 2011, and then worldwide in 2012.
Magicka is an action-adventure game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios. It was released via Steam for Microsoft Windows on January 25, 2011.
Dark Souls is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Namco Bandai Games. A spiritual successor to FromSoftware's Demon's Souls, the game is the first in the Dark Souls series. The game takes place in the kingdom of Lordran, where players assume the role of a cursed undead character who begins a pilgrimage to discover the fate of their kind. A port for Windows featuring additional content, known as the Prepare to Die Edition, was released in August 2012. It was also released for consoles under the subtitle Artorias of the Abyss in October 2012.
Arinn Dembo is an American author currently living and writing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dembo is best known for her work with Vancouver-based Kerberos Productions, where she was lead writer and has worked on the background fiction for the Sword of the Stars series and Fort Zombie.
Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. Set in the Middle Ages, the game was released on February 14, 2012, as a sequel to 2004's Crusader Kings. On October 18, 2019, the video game became free to play. A sequel, Crusader Kings III, was released on September 1, 2020. Crusader Kings II stood out from earlier Paradox games in that it attracted a more widespread audience, contributing to the growth of the company.
War of the Roses is an action hack and slash video game developed by Fatshark and released by Paradox Interactive. The game is set during the Wars of the Roses which took place in England during the 15th century. It was released on 2 October 2012. War of the Roses was well received for its extensive customisation enabling character configurations to be tailored to very specific tastes and for its original "control scheme to tackle a new kind of combat with the aim of creating a completely different experience". The game shut down on 28 February 2017.
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is a remaster of the 1998 role-playing video game Baldur's Gate, developed by Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, and published by Atari. It was released for Microsoft Windows on November 28, 2012, with additional releases between 2012 and 2014 for iPad, OS X, Android and Linux and most recently for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on October 15, 2019. The remaster combines the original game, Baldur's Gate, with its expansion Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, retaining the original elements from both, while including additions, a separate arena adventure entitled The Black Pits, and a number of improvements some of which were imported from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition is a remaster of the role-playing video game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and its expansion Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. The game was launched on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition features new content and widescreen compatibility.
Pillars of Eternity is a 2015 role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The game is a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series, along with Planescape: Torment. Obsidian started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for it in September 2012, raising over US$4 million. The game uses the Unity engine.
Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition is a remake of the Black Isle Studios' 2000 role-playing video game Icewind Dale and its expansions Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster. Enhanced Edition was developed by Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog, and published by Atari for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android.
Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. In Stellaris, players take control of an interstellar civilization on the galactic stage and are tasked with exploring, colonizing, and managing their region of the galaxy, encountering other civilizations that they can then engage in diplomacy, trade, or warfare with. A large part of the game involves dealing with both scripted and emergent events, through which new empires alter the balance of power, powerful crises threaten the galaxy, or event chains tell the story of forgotten empires. It was released worldwide for Windows, macOS, and Linux on May 9, 2016, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Stellaris: Console Edition on February 26, 2019.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a 2019 real-time strategy video game developed by Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remaster of the 1999 game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original. It features significantly improved visuals, supports 4K resolution, and includes all previous expansions from the original and HD Edition. In addition, the game includes The Last Khans, an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia and Eastern Europe, as well as four new campaigns. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was released for Windows on November 14, 2019, and was ported to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on January 31, 2023.
