The short version
- GOG held its first GOG Showcase on November 5, to mark the store's 18th birthday.
- Wing Commander: Prophecy is back as a 30th Anniversary Edition that GOG restored itself, with EA's master-quality video and native controller support.
- Seven Anniversary Editions are out now, including the first four Wing Commander games, Privateer 2 and Road Rash. If you already own a Wing Commander game on GOG, its Anniversary Pack has been added to your library free.
- GOG GALAXY is coming to Linux, GOG is starting a publishing label called Retrovibe, and signups are open for a GOG Social closed beta.
Wing Commander: Prophecy, restored by GOG
The headline act is a space combat game from 1997. GOG says its own engineers led the restoration of Wing Commander: Prophecy, working with EA senior producer Jim Vessella and the game's modding community.
Two changes stand out. The game now plays EA's digitised master copies of its full-motion video cutscenes, the filmed scenes with real actors that the series was known for. It also gets native controller support, which matters for a flight game that originally expected a joystick. GOG says it combined long-running fan mods with its own tools to get there.
The project started with a casual offer. GOG says it met EA at GDC earlier this year and offered to look at the game if EA sent over some footage. It came back saying it thought it could make it work. Prophecy now joins the GOG Preservation Program, which means GOG commits to keeping it running on future PCs.
Image: GOG
The seven Anniversary Editions
EA restored the rest of the lineup, and all of them are on GOG now:
Image: GOG / Electronic Arts
- Wing Commander and Wing Commander II: 35th Anniversary Editions
- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and Privateer 2: The Darkening: 30th Anniversary Editions
- Wing Commander: Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition
- Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition, the 90s motorbike racer where you fight other riders, DRM-free
Each one is a two-in-one pack. You get the updated version and the original "Legacy" build in the same purchase, so purists can still play the game the way it shipped. The catch is that the Legacy builds won't be sold on their own any more.
Existing owners come out ahead. GOG says that if you already own any Wing Commander game on GOG, the matching Anniversary Pack is already in your library at no cost. GOG's announcement didn't list prices for new buyers.
Image: Zerocade
Nox, and the Preservation Program so far
Nox, Westwood's 2000 action RPG, has also been fixed up. GOG says it tracked down what was stopping it from running properly on modern machines and added it to the Preservation Program. The stream showed more of that work, though the written announcement doesn't go into detail.
GOG put the program's numbers at over 1,700 fixes across more than 300 classic games. It also says it has over 10,000 GOG Patrons, players who support the program directly, across 100 countries. If you've ever wondered what those fixes involve, our explainer on how old PC games get restored breaks it down.
GOG GALAXY on Linux, and a reworked client
GOG says GOG GALAXY is officially heading to Linux. There's no release date yet.
The Windows and Mac versions have also been reworked to be simpler and faster, with cleaner ways to view your library. GOG stressed that GALAXY stays optional and that offline installers aren't going anywhere. That's the core of GOG's pitch: you can download a game, keep the installer and play without any launcher at all. Our guide to Denuvo explains the very different approach many big PC games take.
Retrovibe and GOG Social
GOG is also dipping into publishing. Retrovibe by GOG is a new label that backs indie teams, and GOG calls it its "first quiet step" into publishing. The first lineup is led by Project Warlock: Lost Chapters. GOG's written announcement doesn't list the rest of the games or their dates.
Image: GOG
Finally, GOG Social is a new community space, and signups for its closed beta opened on November 5. It will have threaded discussions with screenshot galleries, videos and polls, plus game tagging, spoiler tags and the option to follow topics.
What it means for you
If you already own Wing Commander games on GOG, check your library, because the Anniversary Packs should be there now. Linux players should watch for a GALAXY release date. And if you're new to these games, the fact that the original builds come bundled is a nice safety net: if the update changes something you don't like, the 90s version is right there.
