Like most digital storefronts, GOG runs a variety of weekly sales. These sales are usually themed to some degree, be it genre, publisher, or celebrating a holiday or event in one country or another. Since it can be hard keeping track of all these great game sales, we thought we’d give a few recommendations from GOG’s current set of sales.
As a bonus, this article contains affiliate links, giving you a chance to support Niche Gamer while getting a good deal on some great PC games.
This week, GOG is running two different sales: One based on 2K games, and another sale that is just a bit of a hodgepodge of random games. This list is by no means an exhaustive breakdown of every game on sale, so be sure to browse the sales pages as well.
Here is a list of 10 great games on sale this week from GOG:
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The Mafia franchise
2K Games, Hangar13, Illusion Softworks
All of the Mafia games are currently on sale, and there’s a few options to buy them. Most people generally agree that the first Mafia game is the best, though the second one is still pretty good as well. We generally pretend that Mafia III doesn’t exist, but if you’ve ever been curious about it, at least the Definitive Edition is only $10 right now.
In fact, all of the Definitive Editions are about $10 right now, or $23.99 for the Trilogy pack. Personally, I’d recommend Mafia Classic though, since it’s the original experience with minimal changes and runs great on modern systems. I say “minimal” because there is one big change: all of the fantastic licensed music had to be stripped out. Still, it’s the easiest way to get the original Mafia game running on a modern PC.
Freedom Force
Irrational Games, 2K Games
$1.24 (75% off)
Another classic game that is best bought through GOG is Freedom Force. While this old school superhero RPG from the early 2000s is available on other digital stores, it requires a lot of work to get it running right. The Steam version in particular has a ton of issues you need to fiddle with by digging in config files and tracking down unofficial patches.
If you’ve never played it, Freedom Force is a goofy tactical RPG inspired by classic comic books from the Golden and Silver Ages. While its extremely dated by today’s standards, it nails the look and feel of comics from the old days, before they got too serious and forgot what it meant to be fun. The sequel, Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich, is also 75% off.
Spec Ops: The Line
YAGER, 2K Games
$5.99 (80% off)
On a far more serious note, Spec Ops: The Line is really cheap right now as well. By now everyone knows all about Spec Ops: The Line and its plot twists and anti-war messages. It’s main claim to fame is that it’s a fairly generic military shooter with a storyline that regularly breaks the 4th wall to provide a critique of the genre as a whole. Your mileage will definitely vary as to whether or not it succeeded in its goal of being a more subversive take on the Modern Warfare clones of the early 2010s.
One of the biggest complaints was always that Spec Ops: The Line was way too expensive for a 6-hour long story-driven shooter with pretty much no replay value. At the current price however, it’s worth picking up if you’ve ever been curious.
The BioShock franchise
Irrational Games, 2K Games
Another series I’m sure everyone has played already is the BioShock franchise. BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite are all deeply discounted right now. These are technically the remastered versions of BioShock 1 and 2, but the GOG versions come with the original, unaltered versions as well.
The main reason I’m highlighting BioShock, besides it being a beloved franchise, is because 2K Games just recently butchered the Steam versions. They released a random “quality of life” update after complete silence since 2016 that installed a really terrible pregame launcher, resulting in a flood of negative user reviews. If you somehow don’t already own these games, the GOG versions are definitely the way to go now.
The Outer Worlds
Obsidian Entertainment, Private Division
$19.79 (67% off)
I’ll fully admit that The Outer Worlds is not Obsidian’s brilliant return to New Vegas form that everyone was hoping it would be. My review was one of the lower critical scores the game received at launch, and upon reflection I think I was actually being pretty generous in many places. Even still, I didn’t hate The Outer Worlds, and have even considered revisiting it a few times.
Now that The Outer Worlds is “done” and has several DLC packs available, it’s a good time to pick it up if you’ve kept the game on your wishlist up until now. My more lukewarm take seems to be the minority opinion regarding the game, so maybe you’ll find yourself loving it.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
Tactical Adventures
$15.99 (60% off)
A recent RPG I have a far more positive opinion about is Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This old school-inspired tactical RPG came out last year after a very successful Kickstarter campaign and Early Access release, and it’s still getting updates and new content.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a great party-based RPG that hits the right balance between classic RPG mechanics and a modern, more streamlined package. The game also places a big emphasis on verticality, light, and shadows due to its more subterranean focused environments and quests. The game’s Dungeon Maker also ensures that there is plenty of community content to keep you engaged after beating the main campaign.
XCOM 2
Firaxis, 2K Games
$5.99 (90% off)
On the subject of games with tons of mods, XCOM 2 is less than the price of a fast-food combo meal right now. Like many of the 2K games on this list, XCOM 2 needs no introduction. Chances are if you are interested in this game, you probably already own it. If not, what are you waiting for? GOG has all the classic X-Com games as well.
The GOG version of XCOM 2 gets a lot of flak since it doesn’t have a convenient mod manager like the Steam version does. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t still mod it, you just have to install your mods like the old days before Steam Workshop made everything a few clicks away.
Sid Meier’s Pirates!
Firaxis, 2K Games
$2.49 (75% off)
Sid Meier’s Pirates! came out way back in 2004, and nearly two decades later, it remains one of the most compelling pirate games ever made. It’s far from the most deep and complex Sid Meier game. In fact, it’s actually really simplistic in a lot of places. However, Sid Meier’s Pirates! makes up for this with its charming atmosphere, large open world to explore, and the degree of freedom it gives you to plunder the merchant routes of the Caribbean.
Kerbal Space Program
Squad, Private Division
$9.99 (75% off)
On the opposite end of the complexity scale is Kerbel Space Program. Most people reading this site have probably at least heard of Kerbel Space Program due to the insane popularity it had on YouTube back in the day, but if you’ve been living under a rock since the early 2000s, it’s a sandbox spaceship game about sending little green men into orbit.
The game tasks you with designing starships from scratch, and features fairly realistic physics. You’ll need to understand the basics of aerodynamics and orbital physics to succeed, though building absurd penis rockets that explode on the launch pad is just as fun.
Blasphemous
The Game Kitchen, Team17 Digital
$6.24 (75% off)
Finally, we come to Blasphemous, a brutal and rather grotesque Metroidvania from back in 2019. There are lots of retro-inspired dark fantasy Metroidvanias that try to ape the general feel of a Soulslike these days, and Blasphemous is one of the better ones out there. It has a pretty solid combat system, some fantastic art direction, and loads of interesting skills and abilities. It has also received a lot of free content updates since it first came out.
These sales run until September 26th. Will you be picking up any games from them?
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