Who is Klarden

[Українською]

Hi and welcome to Klardendum!

I’m Kain Klarden (often simply Klarden), also usually known in real life as Ros.

I was born in 1985 in Kyiv and fell in love with video games as soon I got access to them. The only things that captivated me earlier than games were books and music. Aaaand that’s what I usually write about: I love a good story, I love a good soundtrack, but if there’s a solid, especially exploration-based, gameplay mechanic – you got me interested. I also love pasta, pizza, tea and brown rice.

All of the profiles in different social media sites, with few exceptions, are linked on this site and I’m always known as “Klarden” or “Kain Klarden”, a name that I made up in my teens. If I am using some other handle, I don’t want to be found. I’ve noticed there are some imposters using the same handle on the internet, which is cute, I suppose, but also not very nice. Though they seem to be Russian, so that what else would you expect from them.

Klardendum was named as such because it was originally intended to show that my opinions are additions (addendum) to other opinions you find on the internet. And even though my posts became less dependent on outside information, I still maintain that it’s best to gather as many different opinions as possible before making purchasing decisions. Also, the title was later used as a silly pun on the Dumdoi project I will mention below, but ever since the move to a different domain the pun was lost. Also there is a yet undiscovered chemical element #1017 “Klardendum” that totally exists.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I tend to be multilingual. The site started almost entirely written in Russian, but as the time went on I gradually switched to English as my main language. And after the Russian full scale genocidal invasion of Ukraine in 2022 I’ve decided to not use Russian and switch my content to English/Ukrainian. I doubt I will use Russian again in the future, unless that’s the main content of the post (like “bad unofficial translations” from the late 90s-early 00s). Even if switching your main language after 36 years is a bit hard, it’s worth it in this case.

Apart from this place, you might’ve stumbled upon my work elsewhere. For example, I’ve used to often translate different webcomics, usually with my best friend and partner in art crime Shatobrion. All of that is posted as part of our project Dumdoi. I’ve also done Russian language translations used in Dear Esther (the original, not Landmark Edition) and The Stanley Parable (also not the updated re-release). I wrote content for other websites, mostly (now defunct) AveGamers!, but also as a “user contributor” for other places. In addition, I’ve worked in GOG.com for a year with a bunch of talented people, and was responsible for the launch of “Russian language segment” (ugh) of the service. For the past couple of years I’ve been busy working at Frogwares making cool video games (which I obviously cannot review as a result, which is a bit of a bummer).

If you want to contact me for whatever business related reason, you can write at kain atsymbol klardendum.com. Note that I don’t accept game copies/keys, only press-releases – I always purchase the games I talk about.

And if you want to support me in some way, you can spread the word about my content, you know, the usual social media stuff :).

Either way, you’re a wonderful person and thanks for being here. ;)