When most people hear the words "CD Projekt Red," what first comes to mind are the two best role-playing games in the last decade – The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. This is especially true for the PC platform, as most copies of both games sold are through PC storefronts (such as Steam). But CD Projekt directly owns one of those storefronts, known as Good Old Games (or GOG for short). This storefront is famous for its DRM-free ownership of games you purchase through it. What this means is that when a game is downloaded through GOG, there is no obligatory internet handshake to boot it up (like the good old days).
This approach to digital distribution flies in the face of many other storefronts like Steam that do require that internet handshake (even for single-player games). What GOG achieves in this approach is allowing players to preserve their games traditionally — as physical media for games on PC are mostly gone — leaving many classics behind in a similar way to many games were left behind after the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console generation.
But in an effort to push video game preservation forward, CD Projekt took the internet by storm with the announcement of adding Capcom's Dino Crisis 1 and 2 on GOG (which were only on PC through limited physical versions). Not only was it added to their storefront, but it was also given modern-day enhancements (such as full 4k support). The story of the port is very interesting, too, as the technical producer at GOG, Adam Ziolkowski, described in a YouTube video on the GOGs Classic Vault Channel. Basically, the port only needed a few months of development time after the approval from Capcom.
Shortly after the ports went up on GOG, CD Projekt also announced the arrival of the “Dreamlist”. The Dreamlist allows their community to vote on games to be added to the storefront over time (with assumed priority for the most voted titles). Ever since the Dreamlist went up, there have been over 3,000 pages of suggested titles across different genres and release years (going all the way back to the 80s). But the most trending titles on this list with tens of thousands of votes so far say a lot about what games need proper revivals and preservation for the future.
Fabled lost chapters of Lionhead
In 2016, following the cancelation of Fable Legends, developer Lionhead Studios was shut down alongside it. Leaving the declining Fable IP (intellectual property) to remain dormant. That is, until its upcoming Fable reboot (in active development) was announced in 2020 under Playground Games and slated for release this year. However, Lionhead is not just the developer of Fable; it also created the Black & White games in 2001 and 2002.
Both games are two of the top three voted-on games on the Dreamlist – and for good reason. They can only be played through the original physical versions on PC, similar to how it was for Dino Crisis. It is also worth noting that all three Fable games have a sizeable number of votes in the Dreamlist. The reason for this is that while the original release version of Fable and its re-released version, The Lost Chapters are available on Steam, Fable 2 and 3 are not readily available. Fable 3, for instance, can no longer be purchased due to the lack of functionality for “Games for Windows,” which was required to play it. On the other hand, Fable 2 was never ported to PC in any form, leaving both games to rely on Xbox’s Cloud Gaming streaming service for PC. It's not ideal for those with spotty internet connections.
While it's easy to understand why Black and White have been requested so much for GOG, the Fable games may be getting this attention due to the upcoming new entry from Playground Games. It would be ideal for Microsoft and Xbox to act in a similar fashion to Capcom and let GOG do proper ports of all five games to preserve Lionhead's legacy on PC.
The legion of Command and Conquer series
Another of the most voted-on games in the Dreamlist is Command and Conquer: The Ultimate Collection, which includes 10 of the games and 7 expansion packs. This one is interesting as the Ultimate Collection is readily available on Steam (at a cheap price too). But the story of recent releases for the Command and Conquer series may be a hint as to why it is being requested on GOG’s Dreamlist.
In August of 2023, Electronic Arts (or EA for short) announced a new entry in the legendary real-time strategy series. This new entry was called Legions and took the internet by surprise, but not for good reasons. Legions was revealed as a mobile-only title, which, to many hardcore fans across PC and consoles, was a letdown. The last major entry in the Command and Conquer series before this released in 2010, with only a free-to-play browser game releasing in 2012, and then another mobile entry in 2018.
On the surface, it seems like a redundant request, but there is a good reason for it: the lack of DRM (digital rights management). Feeling secure that the game could never be taken away from you, mixed with the ability to play it without a constant internet connection, are both key indicators. It is clear that players want to enjoy these classic games like the good old days.
Doubling Down on Capcom for Resident Evil
As we previously discussed, Dreamlist kicked off with Dino Crisis 1 and 2. Seeing the improvements made to these games by GOG is nothing short of magical. It then makes sense that Resident Evil CODE: Veronica X is also one of GOG's personal picks on the list. While the game is readily available to purchase and play on consoles, like the current generation of Xbox and PlayStation, the same cannot be said for PC players.
Taking into account that Capcom never properly ported Code Veronica to PC in over two decades, this would give GOG another easy win. Similar to how Dino Crisis 1 and 2 were absent from PC for nearly the same amount of time. Their partnership with Capcom is already in place, and as we already know, with a little time, another improved classic would be preserved for the PC fan base.
Summoning Diablo 2 away from Battle.net
While there are numerous other games on the Dreamlist that need long-awaited PC ports, the soulslike genre has some pretty notable titles (like Sony’s Bloodborne and Demon Souls). One final notable pick in the most voted-on games is the original Diablo 2. There are two big reasons for this. One is obvious to anyone who remembers the launch of Diablo 2: Resurrected in 2021. The game was rife with numerous technical issues at launch, like performance problems, not launching on PC, and server issues (the unholy trinity of modern game releases). These problems persisted for weeks and dampened the general hype of a legendary game’s relaunch, but were eventually patched out.
The other reason for Diablo 2 being highly requested is that the original version and the Resurrected edition are solely tied to Battle.net, Blizzard's proprietary PC storefront. Sure, Battle.net is widely accepted in the PC community, but the recently released Diablo 4 is available on Steam right now (with neither version of Diablo 2 available there). If you also take into account that Diablo + Hellfire is already available on GOG, then it begs the question — what would stop GOG from partnering with Blizzard to offer the second game with no DRM attached?
So many titles, so little help
GOG has a big list of games (maybe a few too many) that their community is clamoring for. And rightfully so, given the trust CD Projekt has earned over the years. Now that they have the upper hand in delivering more nostalgic favorites to their fans, it only makes me wonder what the cadence of ports would look like.
When it comes to Black and White, Fable, Command and Conquer, Code Veronica, and Diablo 2, there are definitely levels of complexity to each game that GOG may not have encountered with Dino Crisis. This would, of course, be challenging for a few people to handle. With all that said, considering the staggering number of votes for each title, the ball is in Microsoft, EA, and Capcom court. What would they have to lose in the pursuit of preserving legendary titles when there is more money to be gained?
