Someone at Ubisoft was doing well when they agreed to officially license this. I have believed for a while that they should be attempting to sell off the Blue Byte IP, and maybe studio, to make the most of it while the nostalgia for it still exists.
8f2ab37a-ed6c · 56m ago
What's the best way to play Settlers II as of 2025 on a PC or macOS? Is there a GOG-style version that still works as of today? It's unclear how well this version still does: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_settlers_2_gold_edition
Actually same for Settlers III, I remember that one fondly as well. They lost me a bunch around the switch-to-3D era.
The screenshot looks super crisp! Amazing. But in all honesty, this release is more for an Amiga on steroids than what a typical Amiga looked like 29 years ago.
typpilol · 1h ago
Settlers 3 and the expansion for it were great
I loved the economy style and not many games have similar styles even today.
It was a good split between resource management and combat.
kookamamie · 56m ago
> 68040 with 40 MHz
No one had this stuff.
icedchai · 50m ago
Yep. 32 megs of RAM was unheard of on an Amiga.
npongratz · 11m ago
Not completely unheard of but I get your point :). Babylon 5's pilot's animations (and I believe opening credits) was rendered in 1993 on sixteen souped-up A2000s, each with 32 MB of RAM.
Yes, but it‘s not surprisingly high for a 1996 PC game.
"You needed AT LEAST a fast 486, and preferably a pentium, to run this on the PC. Being upset that an 030 isn't supported is ridiculous. Reminds me of the people back in the 90s that complained that SimCity2000 didn‘t run smoothly on their 1200.“
wow, impressive! this game bring so many good memories.
SamBam · 1h ago
Great! Now someone needs to finally work on that Day of the Tentacle release for the Compaq Portable!
Razengan · 1h ago
Slight tangent: The enduring charm of "retro" games (whether actually old or just imitating old games) and the cults around old platforms, shows that there is some value in "constrained computing" environments. The PlayDate has also been moderately successful hasn't it?
The constraints often seem to encourage increased creativity. Maybe partly because of the challenge of pushing those constraints, the level playing field (when competing vs all the other developers on such platforms), and/or the lack of "pressure" (i.e. you don't have to make a game that looks like the latest Unreal 69 tech demo or whatnot)..
Maybe it's time for a new current-day platform that's similarly "constrained" on purpose?
The capabilities of the DS seem like a sweet spot. Put it in a Switch form factor and throw in a Commodore 64-like OS, complete with Python or Lua or some other language that's easy to pick up and also relevant in the broader world.
extraisland · 42m ago
Most of the charm of retro-computing is Nostalgia and yearning for the simplicity of older machines.
I own two Amigas. The OS boots pretty quickly and you can start using your computer. Until the invention of NVMEs did I have a PC that would boot as quickly as the Amiga. There are no distractions when using the machine, no forced updates, no stupid notifications. It just works as a computer.
I have a collection of Amiga, PS1, Dreamcast, PS2 and PS3 games. The games are relatively cheap and or free (a lot of games are abandonware or can be pirated without anyone really caring). Unlike a lot of modern titles are actual games. They are fun, pretty much just pop in the disk and play.
garciansmith · 23m ago
A lot of it is nostalgia, but I know children who love old games that were made 20+ years before they were born, so it's not just that. As you said about your old games: "they are fun, pretty much just pop in the disk and play." There are plenty of great old games that are still good, even without certain modern conveniences and game design.
Playing old stuff on original hardware is a bit different (especially computers, as you noted), and there nostalgia has a greater pull I think. But even then, to experience a game as it originally was, you need to resort to that hardware. I recently used a MiSTer to compare how games looked on a CRT and modern screen, and it was super interesting to see the differences (e.g., colors being more vivid on the LCD, but effects like glowing lights were only visible on the CRT).
garciansmith · 23m ago
I think constraints can bring about creativity. The Playdate is a good example, though it's extremely niche (they've sold what, 100,000 of them or something?). And it fits your description of a modern-day platform that's constrained in particular ways. It has been interesting to see the ways devs have used the system to make unique games unavailable on any other platform.
Actually same for Settlers III, I remember that one fondly as well. They lost me a bunch around the switch-to-3D era.
I loved the economy style and not many games have similar styles even today.
It was a good split between resource management and combat.
No one had this stuff.
https://www.generationamiga.com/2020/08/30/how-24-commodore-...
"You needed AT LEAST a fast 486, and preferably a pentium, to run this on the PC. Being upset that an 030 isn't supported is ridiculous. Reminds me of the people back in the 90s that complained that SimCity2000 didn‘t run smoothly on their 1200.“
https://old.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1mp1z3v/29_years_lat...
The constraints often seem to encourage increased creativity. Maybe partly because of the challenge of pushing those constraints, the level playing field (when competing vs all the other developers on such platforms), and/or the lack of "pressure" (i.e. you don't have to make a game that looks like the latest Unreal 69 tech demo or whatnot)..
Maybe it's time for a new current-day platform that's similarly "constrained" on purpose?
The capabilities of the DS seem like a sweet spot. Put it in a Switch form factor and throw in a Commodore 64-like OS, complete with Python or Lua or some other language that's easy to pick up and also relevant in the broader world.
I own two Amigas. The OS boots pretty quickly and you can start using your computer. Until the invention of NVMEs did I have a PC that would boot as quickly as the Amiga. There are no distractions when using the machine, no forced updates, no stupid notifications. It just works as a computer.
I have a collection of Amiga, PS1, Dreamcast, PS2 and PS3 games. The games are relatively cheap and or free (a lot of games are abandonware or can be pirated without anyone really caring). Unlike a lot of modern titles are actual games. They are fun, pretty much just pop in the disk and play.
Playing old stuff on original hardware is a bit different (especially computers, as you noted), and there nostalgia has a greater pull I think. But even then, to experience a game as it originally was, you need to resort to that hardware. I recently used a MiSTer to compare how games looked on a CRT and modern screen, and it was super interesting to see the differences (e.g., colors being more vivid on the LCD, but effects like glowing lights were only visible on the CRT).