GOG Galaxy 2.0 aims to simplify PC gaming through a unified launcher. — AFP Relaxnews
Squad-based survival horror GTFO and virtual reality homage to the Half-Life ethos Boneworks challenge Halo and Red Dead 2 on the Steam charts, while GOG gets year-end sale season underway and offers Galaxy 2.0, its community-collecting desktop client, to all.
Tense and gory action game GTFO launched out of its Alpha and Beta stages and into a full Early Access status on Dec 9 and from there became one of Steam's best-sellers of the week by Dec 15.
The challenging first-person shooter sends its squad of heavily-armed prisoners into an underground facility that is now infected with ghoulish creatures.
Stealth is of the utmost importance, the horror game provoking players into alerting creatures to their presence through panic and miscommunication.
Both it and another independently made game, Boneworks, challenged big studio behemoths Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Red Dead Redemption 2 for prestige places on Steam's revenue-based ranking.
While Boneworks is not part of the Half-Life franchise, its thematic links are easily surfaceable: heavy on the sort of physics simulation that the first Half-Life game was well known for, while immersing players through VR as 2020's Half-Life: Alyx intends to.
Then there's the use of crowbar weaponry (a lasting Half-Life motif), spheroid cyclops robots, testing chambers, and a story about errant AI (spin-off series Portal).
Over on GOG, a three-week Winter Sale started on Dec 11, propelling the unexpectedly impressive 2019 mid-tier indie hit GreedFall into its top five. Perennial favourite Divinity: Original Sin 2 was the upper echelon's other discounted favourite; neither dislodged October's acclaimed Disco Elysium, nor Cyberpunk 2077 and the Ultimate RED Collection from GOG's sister studio CD Projekt RED.
After five years in development, GOG also pushed its revamped desktop client, GOG Galaxy 2.0, into Open Beta.
The application is designed to become a client to unite other clients, bringing games and friends together from across GOG and Xbox Live and, via community integrations, Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net, EA's Origin, Ubisoft's Uplay and so on.
It's still a work in progress, but now open to all to test out.
Steam* (steampowered.com)
1. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
3. GTFO
4. Boneworks
5. Valve Index VR Kit
*Steam chart based on revenue rather than units.
GOG (gog.com)
1. Disco Elysium
2. GreedFall
3. Ultimate RED Collection (Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 1-3, Witcher Adventure Game, Thronebreaker franchise)
4. Cyberpunk 2077 (pre-order)
5. Divinity: Original Sin – Definitive Edition
– AFP Relaxnews
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