Yeah, that was exactly the team's intention 😅 For me personally, visit to X-18 is one of the most memorable gaming experiences of my childhood. So we all did our best to make it as creepy as it was before, even though it was just for a side-quest.

New free content update for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is available now! It introduces a new questline to explore the sealed part of X-18 Lab, and I was tasked to do lighting for such an iconic location.
Read the full announcement below, a lot more is coming this summer!
store.steampowered.com/news/app/164...

Here's the clip of Mesh performing one of their biggest hits, Born to Lie. As usual, I've shared a few more videos and photos on my Instagram - www.instagram.com/inquisitoral...

This week I had a great pleasure to be at live performance of legendary British synthpop band Mesh. It was an amazing show, which solidified my opinion that their new album is awesome. Excellent crowd and the vibe, guest performance of Mari Kattman was also great!

#synthpop #industrialmusic

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl next free update location

Looks familiar 👀

A few words about Epica - I was NOT prepared for how impressive their show would be. The stage set and sound quality were phenomenal, definitely one of those bands you need to experience live. Can't say I'm a hardcore fan of their music, but this show made me rediscovered some of their songs.

Although I'm kinda disappointed that Amaranthe didn't play Outer Dimensions (which was sort of expected, considering the tour name lol), the set list was almost perfect. It was an unforgettable show, amazing energy and vibe! More clips and photos on my Instagram - www.instagram.com/inquisitoral...

Charlotte Wessels

Amaranthe

Amaranthe

Epica

I was on short vacation and had a chance to be at Amaranthe/Epica show as part of their Arcane Dimensions Tour. I'm a huge fan of Amaranthe since their very first album, so it was great to finally experience their music live! Charlotte Wessels also played as warm-up act and did well too.

Thanks, glad you like it! 😊

Can't wait for you guys to see what we've been working on! This DLC would feature a non-linear narrative focused on Duty and Freedom factions, and dozens of hours of additional gameplay.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2H5...

www.ign.com/articles/tim...

👀

Oh yes, the magic "Make it look good" button that destroys all art direction and adds tasteless AI filter with cranked up contrast and fake rim-light over every character is EXACTLY what everyone asked for.

Also worth pointing out that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and our team was nominated in the Games Beyond Entertainment category :)

Finally, a step into the right direction

Approximately 50% of total unit sales are from PC sales, and Capcom expect this ratio to continue increasing.

Capcom plans to "further strengthen our PC development framework" and the technical lessons learned from Monster Hunter Wilds "will be applied to future title development."

Lastly, a few photos from my 2-days exploration of Dresden! Never been in this city before, so I was impressed with how many of historical buildings they've restored. In case you are interested, I've uploaded a few more photos from this trip on my Instagram - www.instagram.com/inquisitoral...

Here's a clip of performance of headliners of this show, Swedish futurepop pioneers Covenant. Sadly, I accidentally botched audio while recording it on my phone. Definitely going to look into options to improve the quality next time.

Absurd Minds

Leæther Strip

Covenant

KaS Product

Last weekend I was at Dresden for another industrial music gig, this time with 4 bands - Covenant, Leæther Strip, KaS Product, and Absurd Minds. Well, KaS Product actually playing punk/coldwave and were last-minute replacement for another band. But I still enjoyed this show a lot!

#industrialmusic

Finally!

Playtime is officially over, kiddies!

Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2 have finally stomped their way on to Steam. Celebrate this prehistoric occasion by getting both games for 50% off until February 26.

🦖 bit.ly/DinoCrisis1Steam
🦖🦖 bit.ly/DinoCrisis2Steam

Save 50% on Caravan SandWitch on Steam Embark on a journey across vast landscapes in Caravan SandWitch, a captivating narrative-driven exploration adventure.

It has demo and currently on -50% sale btw - store.steampowered.com/app/1582650/...

Finally continued my playthrough of Caravan Sandwitch - a charming open-world indie game that I discovered on one of the past Steam Fests. It's a prime example of the right use of UE5 - the art-direction in this game is absolutely stellar. There are some flaws, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

In 1995, Sega was moving swiftly into the PC space, hence this keyboard-blasting U.S. print ad promoting games like Ecco the Dolphin and Comix Zone. (Scan via the VGHF Library.)

This is ridiculous. I bought Armed and Dangerous, but I forgot to buy Afterlife because Disney weren't giving it the historical low discount for years. I've been saying this for decades - unless it's DMCA removal, companies should NOT be able to remove their games just like that without any notice.

DRK|MODE, by Julien-K 10 track album

Also want to add a few words about my personal favorite music of 2025. Julien-K - DRK|MODE is one of the most sublime albums I've heard in years. A perfect mix of electro-industrial and rock, with excellent melodies and complex sound. So please check it out, this band deserves more recognition.

Top 20 albums of 2025 Julien-K - DRK|MODE (182 scrobbles) Warkings - Armageddon (137) Various Artists - Electronic Saviors: Industrial Music to Cure Cancer, V... (119) Enemy Inside - Venom (113) Eisbrecher - Kaltfront! (111) Freaky Mind - Gradient (103) Destroy Me Again - Cold By Design (101) Centhron - Liebe ist Krieg (97) Dunkelsucht - Pyramid [[ We Make You Rich ]] (81) Three Days Grace - Alienation (80) Starset - SILOS (74) Ultra Sunn - The Beast In You (73) Dominum - The Dead Don't Die (71) Ghost - Skeletá (71) HIGHSOCIETY - DATAMOSH (70) Blutengel - Dämonen : Sturm (67) Julien-K - Night Mover (66) Käärijä - Disko Balls (66) The Funeral Portrait - Greetings from Suffocate City (From Beyond the Abys... (66) Hämatom - Für Dich (65)

Top 20 songs of 2025 Julien-K - NIGHT MOVER - 101 Dunkelsucht - Pyramid [[ We Make You Rich ]] - 81 Käärijä - Disko Balls - 66 Enemy Inside - Let Me Go - 65 Ghost - Peacefield - Single Version - 52 Warkings - Genghis Khan (feat. Orden Ogan) - 47 Ghost - Lachryma - 42 Starset - SILOS - 42 Xenturion Prime - Within Reach - 42 Dead Lights - The Algorithm - 41 Eisbrecher - Zeitgeist (feat. Joachim Witt) - 39 HIGHSOCIETY - Burn - 34 Freaky Mind - My Heart Goes Ouch - 31 Warkings - Troops of immortality - 31 Xenturion Prime - Moonstone - 27 Disco Lizard - See You in Paradise - 26 Julien-K - Fractured - 26 Dunkelsucht - In Control - 25 PRIMESHOCK - Unforgettable - 25 Centhron - Concubitus - 24

While Last.fm understands when the year actually ends, I find their 2025 breakdown very lackluster - had to fetch my top 20 of albums and songs manually! No yearly playlist either, so I'm sharing the one from Spotify, even though it's missing over a month of data - open.spotify.com/playlist/37i...

As for the game itself, it's a timeless masterpiece I can't recommend enough. To this day, I still consider it the best bullet hell ever made. I strongly suggest switching to Legacy mode before playing tho - updated graphics are nice, but for some reason Enhanced mode completely nerfed sound effects

I was going to post about -90% sale of a shareware 1997 classic DemonStar - store.steampowered.com/app/2577180/... But apparently, this discount was set by hackers who stole dev account?! Dev has restored access now and don't mind people buying it at such low price, but its still such a crazy story.

The Steam Awards Vote for the 2025 Steam Award nominees during the Steam Winter Sale

Congratulations to Hollow Knight: Silksong for winning Game of the Year in the 2025 Steam Awards!

store.steampowered.com/steamawards/...

Visit the page to see the full list of winners, including Arc Raiders, Hades 2, PEAK, Dispatch, Clair Obscur, and more.