this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Enshittification.
Not sure you should.
I hear GoG tends to be less DRM-y.
You cant enshittify something that wasnβt good in the first place.
We're in the phase of the meme where use is broadened more and more until it ceases to have any connection to its origins.
They're trying to enshittify PC gaming.
Fair enough.
I'll have to take a look at GoG anyway... I don't remember but I heard it's like an aggregator of some sort too, right? Like, you can access games from your steam account too or something?
Edit: Bruh this is dope.
GOG the store is just that - a store. They only sell games that have no DRM at all, which means a couple of things. One, they almost never get AAA games at release (the exception being games developed/published by CD Projekt, as CDP owns GOG), and two, there's a high likelihood that GOG will offer game versions that are out of sync with or missing features from the same game sold on other platforms (for example, if a game uses Steamworks for its multiplayer, many devs will just strip out multiplayer altogether for the GOG version rather than patching something new and store-agnostic in).
What you're thinking of with the aggregator is GOG Galaxy, which is their (completely un-required) launcher software. Unlike Steam and EGS, GOG's DRM-free nature means you can just buy games on their site, download the installers directly, and go on about your business. Downloading games, starting games, etc., is all just done manually. If you want a dedicated launcher software similar to the Steam and EGS clients, that's what GOG Galaxy is for. And as a value-add, they implemented aggregator features where you can have it pull in your library from Steam, EGS, EA/Origin, Ubisoft, etc., and just view and launch everything from the one spot. I've generally found Playnite to be a little better at being a one-stop launcher, though everyone's mileage will vary of course.
This isn't really true anymore.
What installer? You mean like apps?
The actual .exe that installs the game.
Playnite looks interesting.
Does it have support for linking Backloggd accounts or similar such platforms?
Yeah after using both Playnite is better but GOG works a bit better as a ready made experience tbh. Both are great!
GOG Galaxy let's you combine most of your game library in to one but it has it's issues. GOG, Epic and Microsoft Store all work great but the other clients aren't officially supported.
Epic doesn't have the game time sync, but that's an Epic issue I believe.
Edit 2: (replied because I got some error when editing comment a second time...)
Okay nevermind. Thought it was too good to be true... why open with an in-app browser?
This is to be expected and don't let it turn you off using Galaxy. Once set up you can automatically launch (and close) the game and client from here without seeing the other apps.
It does work with Steam, Ubisoft etc but the login will expire every week and need reconnecting.
Oh yeah. No, absolutely not... I logged in...
I installed one game, uninstalled another.
Waiting to get time to play using GoG soon.
Also, do we know if there's any integration with services like IGDB?
It's the only way they can ensure it works, I suppose. They might need to control specific cookies and reported supposed clients depending on plugins, and so a packaged in-app browser for the login is easiest. Playnite does the same thing.
Playnite is a better free option for a library manager and the steam integration doesnβt break constantly.
https://playnite.link/
To be clear, it's not less DRM-y, it's straight up DRM-free.
They had a poll at one point asking the community whether they were fine with DRM-enabled games and/or modern releases. As I understand it, the community said yea to modern games, nay to DRM, so now they do games of all ages but only if they're willing to give up on DRM.
I'm amazed they haven't turned back on that, because a couple years ago they were bleeding money and you can tell they really need to cut costs or increase revenue somewhere. But hey, at least you can back up your library.
GoG isn't terrible, but is a little bit of a pain with Linux. They don't have native support with the desktop client. Although, there are things like "Heroic Launcher" and "Lutris" that work well as a substitute. Granted most of my experience with those are on my Steam Deck. And it just caused too much pain to get CP2077 working for me. That I got it again on Steam when it went on sale.