GOG Winter Sale Arrives With Free Games

The digital distribution outlet GOG.com has started their winter sale. One of the biggest differences between GOG.com and Steam is that the DRM-free distribution outlet is utilizing one of Steam's past sale features: timed deals.

There are various bundles and sales that are quite different from the way Valve handles their deals. For instance, at GOG.com there are mystery games that can be purchased for $3.00. It's a random game that is not in the library of the purchaser, so you don't have to worry about ending up with something you already bought.

It's a neat little incentive to get gamers to take a risk on potentially buying something just out of the blue. Additionally, these $3.00 mystery games are not included in the sales line-ups, so it's some other title well out of the way.

What's also interesting is that they have free games being given away after every expenditure milestone. So spending $5 will net you a free copy of Divine Divinity. Spending $50 will get you a free copy of Daedalus Entertainment's Blackguards, the turn-based, brooding medieval fantasy RPG.

Beyond the specialty deals are the standard winter sale discounts, including a giant Star Wars blaster bundle pack that includes X-Wing: Special Edition, Tie Fighter: Special Edition, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, X-Wing Alliance and four other games in the venerable galactic sci-fi series from LucasArts and Disney Interactive. The Star Wars bundle is marked down by 60% off for only $28.72. There's a second Star Wars bundle called the “saber” pack. The second bundle includes games centered around the series' lightsaber combat and storytelling, such as Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy, to name but a few. The pack contains 10 games that are discounted by 77% off the normal bundle price of $97.90... so you can grab all those Star Wars titles for only $22.44.

There's even a follow-up Lucasfilm Classics pack, with games like Sam & Max, The Dig, Afterlife, Zack McKracken and one of my all time personal favorites Outlaws, all jammed into a bundle that's 75% off the normal price so you can pick it up for only $16.90.

It's not all about older classics and ancient games designed to bring back a flood of nostalgia. There are quite a few newer titles discounted deeply on GOG.com as well, including 4A Games' Metro 2033: Redux that's 75% off so you can grab it for only $4.99. The newly released third-person hack-and-slash title Victor Vran is also discounted by 50% off the normal price for only $9.99. CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is also half-off along with Obsidian Entertainment's Pillars of Eternity: Hero Edition.

Crowd-funded titles like Satellite Reign and Shadowrun: Hong Kong also make the cut, with the former being 40% off at $17.99 while the latter is 50% off for only $9.99.

Popular games from the previous generation like Divinity: Original Sin and Alan Wake are also available, along with classics like I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream and the original Deus Ex.