As Fallout continues to expand past the video games like a radioactive mushroom cloud, lead Bethesda writer Emil Pagliarulo says the company is incredibly against retconning existing lore, and keeping the Fallout universe together is actually one of the "biggest honours" of his role.

"In Fallout, [all of] the lore matters, and if you think it doesn't, the internet will remind you that it does," Pagliarulo explained in an interview with PC Gamer Magazine. "It's important to Fallout fans, whether something was made pre-war or post-war, it all matters. And it's a huge responsibility."

Pagliarulo's been shouldering that responsibility for years at this point, having served as a quest designer on Fallout 3 and a lead writer for Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter, while also working on everything from Skyrim to Starfield in between post-apocalyptic tales.

"I actually consider that one of the biggest honours and responsibilities of my job, keeping the lore together and tight," Pagliarulo continued. "Retconning is a terrible thing generally - you don't want to change something that's come before. We never want to retcon, but we do like to add on to the existing fiction, and do that in a way that doesn't spit in the eye of what came before, and that's a challenge a lot of times."

Prime Video's live-action adaptation of the beloved sci-fi franchise hasn't exactly retconned anything major, but it did recently enshrine one Fallout: New Vegas ending as canon for the show, at least. Co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet argued that the streaming series didn't intend to push one ending as the ending, however.

Fallout season 2 Easter eggs and cameos: All the nods to New Vegas that you might have missed.

Paradox aired its year-end report—where it chats all the money it has and hasn't made for the benefit of investors—earlier today, but don't worry, I watched it for you. Long story short? Paradox raked in a whole lot of cash this quarter: 23% more than it earned in the same quarter last year, making it Paradox's "second-best quarter ever". Hooray! Also, it managed to make 162% less operating profit for an overall loss of 245.4 million Swedish kronor (around $28 million). Uh oh!

And the reason is, well, yeah, it's Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

"The profit line, or EBIT [earnings before interest and taxes] is affected by a big writedown of the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2," said Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester. If you'll recall, Paradox announced last November that its troubled sequel to cult classic Bloodlines 1 hadn't sold as well as it had hoped, leading to a write-down of 355 million kronor.

Profit was also impacted by "scheduled amortisation of the entire capitalised development cost [for Bloodlines 2] over the period from October to December 2025, amounting to MSEK 345.7." Unlike the wince-inducing write-down, though, that's just a fairly bog-standard bit of accounting for the game's development costs (though those would, perhaps, have been lower had the game not been such a nightmare to create).

Absent the write-down, Paradox's profit would've shaken out to around 110 million kronor—still a hefty chunk less than its operating profit in the same quarter last year (395.3 million kronor), but, you know, still a profit.

Now, to be fair, vampires weren't the only thing taking a bite out of Paradox's bank account last quarter. Wester and Paradox CFO Alexander Bricca pointed out that the volatility of foreign exchange rates has also been doing a number on the company. "The dollar was down, I think 12% if you look at the quarter average, [the] Euro down 5, 6%—so, all in all it impacts our top line quite significantly," Bricca told investors.

It's hard to see past that Bloodlines 2 iceberg, though. Wester tried to put a positive spin on things, mind you: "On revenue, it's our second-best quarter ever!"

Poor Bloodlines 2, is all I have to say. Sure, it should never have been saddled with that name and the attendant expectations, but I rather liked The Chinese Room's take on Vampire: The Masquerade. It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed my time with it. At least Paradox doesn't blame the studio for the gaping hole in its finances: "The responsibility lies fully with us," it said at the time of the write-down. Still, I'm not expecting Bloodlines 3 any time soon.

New World Computing founder and co-creator of the 40-year-old Might and Magic series, Jon Van Caneghem, is officially returning to the strategy RPG for the first time in decades. He'll act as creative advisor for the upcoming turn-based prequel Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era.

As a press release disclaims, this advisor role will only be in addition to "the guidance the team already receives from Ubisoft as the IP holder." In 2025, that IP holder announced a Might and Magic trading card game with an "optional Web3 layer," and it continues to slice away at its workforce and release schedule.

Olden Era's developer, Unfrozen, seems to have more saintly intentions by comparison, promising in its Steam description that Olden Era will be "built on the familiar foundations of some of the most critically acclaimed strategy games of all time." Caneghem, the fan-appointed father of the franchise, could hopefully only help solidify that goal.

"It is a great pleasure to see the world I have built all those years ago thrive and be a part of so many people’s memories," Caneghem says in the press release. "I'm very glad to be able to contribute to it once again and walk this road with all of you who made Might and Magic into the legendary series it is today."

Unfrozen CEO Denis Fedorov says about Caneghem, "It has been over 20 years since the last time he participated in the creation of a game in the Heroes universe. Jon is an incredible, talented man and a true legend for all the fans of the franchise whose craftsmanship inspired me to be where I am."

"With Jon's assistance," he continues, "we aim to bring you another great Heroes of Might and Magic game not only in terms of content, but worldbuilding as well: in addition to the guidance from Ubisoft as the current IP holder."

Revisiting Heroes 3 after 20 years has made me realize that Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era may have already surpassed it.