sirvintage's reviews on GOG.com

Created on 28 October, 2026 23:23

Worthyfollow up to sky force anniversary

Greater scenery variety, bigger and more diverse weapons upgrade pool and a longer grind to full ship upgrade. I think this sums up how this differs to its predecessor. I think it is worthwhile to get both as they are quite cheap and very enjoyable. Even if you are not good at shoot em ups if you grind enough you will get to a good upgrade state and you will be able to pass the level that gives you trouble. Runs on Linux very well - I used Fedora 45 and Heroic Launcher for this.

Created on 15 October, 2026 22:54

Updated on 15 October, 2026 23:09

Excellent widescreen shooter

I had this on console and played it quite a bit and at this price point it is quite a compelling purchase. The screen scrolls from bottom-up - you control a plane and shoot down other planes as well as ground targets. You get to collect points (stars) as you progress through the level and you can upgrade your plane between runs in the hangar (this is the rogue-like element of the game). Further, you aim to complete some objectives per level; if you do things perfectly enough (e.g. rescue all hostages or receive no damage) more levels are unlocked. The graphics are beautiful, the scrolling is smooth and the gameplay is suitable for widescreen displays - i.e. there is no black bars on the side at a 16:9 ratio. Check the video and if it looks good to you then buy it - I enjoyed it thoroughly on console and I am sure to keep it forever here on GOG. Works on Linux with wine (I use Fedora and the Heroic Launcher) without issues.

Created on 30 September, 2026 23:25

It's a classic that is still excellent!

I see most of the reviews here are old, but there has been tremendous progress on this game since the 2010s. Caesar 3 is a unique for the time city building game that combines city building and population/industry/trade management. A modern equivalent would be the Tropico series of games. The price it is offered in is ridiculously low, you can even get it for around 3.5 euros. You should definitely buy it if you are interested in city building. Once you buy it, install it but don't run it! There are two excellent open source implementations of the engine, one called Julius (almost exactly like the original but with widescreen support, bug fixes some QoL features and is available on all platforms) and the other August (with even more gameplay enhancements). Both need the original files from GoG to play. My recommendation: Get Julius first and play it and get first rate Windows, Mac and Linux support (as well as Nintendo Switch and PS vita and Android!). Once you finish it or get far along enough in Julius to satiate your vintage curiosity, get Augustus which includes a new campaign (can also do the classic one if you prefer that), and excellent quality of life features as well as tastefully done additional graphics. Personally, I think Augustus is the superior version but your mileage may vary - I really think both are excellent. Anyway, I just had to write this to let everyone know that Caesar 3 is still alive in 2026, is supported everywhere, is more stable than ever and looks great. It is not just alive, it is thriving - a game from 1998 having people care so passionately about it in 2026 should tell you all you need to know.

1 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 26 September, 2026 19:09

Nostalgia yes but not nostalgia bait

Sin was released in 98 or some such and it was released in a bad state. And then they patched it - a lot. It contains revolutionary concepts and ideas for its time and it oozes personality. But then Half-Life came and it was all over. This remaster is carefully and tastefully done to preserve and present the game's original gameplay and concepts with some QoL improvements and adapted to modern 16:9 screens. Personally I prefer the non-antialiased look and recommend disabling the water effect but your mileage may vary. Ok lets be clear. If you do not know what SiN is (ho ho ho) and you don't remember how cool the iconic gun looked in the pc gaming mags this is probably not for you. In my not so humble view it is not worth 30 euros when you can get the original for 5 euros (on discount) and get essentially the same gameplay. The game has jumping sections and no hand holding which means you may end up at times not sure where to go and may have to refer to a walkthrough. However, if you do remember the original, if you did buy it (or otherwise "procured" it) in the past and found long loading times and gameplay bugs annoying this is the version for you. I gave it a 5 but for someone who was not alive when this came out this is more like a 3.5 (assuming you don't mind the outdated graphics). I should state that it works on Linux flawlessly. I tried it with Heroic Launcher with both supported wine versions and it is all good. Finally, I can report with great pleasure that after all these years and the magic of Nightdive studios the loading and saving times are instantaneous. And it supports split screen (maybe? - it is in the multiplayer options) and some LAN play but I don't know who will bother with that.

21 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 13 September, 2026 00:57

A great art piece you can enjoy on Linux

Download without fear, it will work on your Linux PC (I used Heroic launcher which has GoG integration built-in) and you can even run it on a potato PC as it is all movie/video playback. The other reviews here are excellent, but just to add 2 cents it is a very unique work or art, which I have not finished yet but I am sure I will in the near future. What I would advise new players to do is to learn and make use of the keyboard shortcuts (space to pause video, tab to go to select mode and use arrow keys to select the hotspots). When you watch a video always watch it in reverse also and remember you can fast forward and fast rewind the videos (fast rewind is essential I think unless you enjoy listening to audio in reverse, ugh). If the music crescendos that may be a clue for you to pause and click. Do not check reviews on other websites (I went in blind just trusting the high reviewer score) and enjoy the experience. There is nudity (tastefully done I think) if you care about this sort of thing and some Christian imagery and provocation but it is all art and very well done in my opinion. There is some frustration after you have unlocked many videos as it is not clear which ones you have thoroughly examined and which ones still hold secrets and I think the review from btcprox here has great suggestions that could have added to the gameplay experience but still I am very happy I plunged in and bought it.

Created on 03 September, 2026 02:08

Updated on 03 September, 2026 02:14

Played the prologue for about 30 mins

5/5 to get your attention - and report that the game runs on Linux with proton. It has a tutorial at the start and the interface and presentation feel very much like the Witcher 3. The universe looks intriguing and the graphics are good. Voice acting is professional and voices so far are distinct and memorable. Also works on Linux with Proton or Wine and runs well on my setup (AMD + Fedora). The time mechanic is unique and adds some urgency. I will play more and update this "review" as I go along. If it looks intriguing to you I urge you to buy it - it is a rare AAA game with 0-day DRM free release. Ok that is it for now.

158 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 24 August, 2026 23:49

Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns

Real talk, wait for discount

So, the game is a sum of three parts. One part is the old defender of the crown (DotC). It is a recreation (not emulation) of the Amiga classic and it uses a great CRT filter that makes the experience feel authentic. However, the animations in the catapult sections are too smooth and the AI behaviour is different. I don't know about the sword fighting sections as they did not occur in my playthrough but the screen shaking for the jousting sections is not as good as the Amiga original (frown). I still managed to finish it on my first try with good leadership (character hint) and frequent visits to Robin but if you have played the original you will notice the differences. The music is as epic as ever but the end sequence stops too abruptly - you cannot listen to the whole music score until the end - the game boots you to the main menu before the triumphant score finishes! Also there is no music during battles which I found odd. Oh, and in another review it is mentioned that there are no princess animations during rescue which if true is a big miss. If you want the authentic DotC experience better fire up that emulator. Two and a half stars on this one. Part number two is a modernised remaster of defender of the crown. I also finished that on the first try (but then again I have played the Amiga original a lot). The graphics are better, the castle sieges and jousting mini games are better and the graphics have a pixelated retro look that is so popular these days. The new mechanics are that you can assign soldiers to the land (like the PC version of the original) and there are more than one boulder type to fling in to the castle during sieges (again, like the PC version of DotC). The ending of it is the same as the original in spirit but the epic music is missing (is this a licensing issue? I cannot imagine it is. A very odd choice) - you get some animation similar to the intro of the game which is not even close to satisfying compared to the original. Overall, it is ok but judged on its own merits without the nostalgia goggles (that I must admit had on during my playthrough) it is at best two stars. The third part is a deck building dice game which is quite the departure from the other two parts. The setting is the same (old England) and the main map is also the same only this time separated into more parts. It is quite cool to see and it is the only part of the game I might revisit soon as it has quite a bit of depth to it and is fun. The mini games from part two (with the new graphics) are also employed here but you use dice rolls and a lot of chance in those sections. Ok here is the real talk part. For people who do not have money to spare on frivolities this is definitely a miss. The re-creation of the original is not authentic enough to satisfy the nostalgia for the old timers who remember this from the Amiga days, so sadly for those this is probably a miss also. The deck building/card game is somewhat interesting but it should probably have been a standalone game at a reduced price. The overall price is too high for what it is - if you can get it at a heavy discount it is probably worth it for the dice game section. With a heavy heart I will say that I think it is a 2/5 game. I wanted this to be a success so we could see other cinemaware classics such as rocket ranger, it came from the desert and the king of chicago recreated but I guess these will forever have to stay in the ever green pastures of nostalgia land.

17 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 23 July, 2026 00:11

Good and challenging

The game is very reminiscent of Kingdom Two Crowns with the difference that here the upgrades for each structure can be extensive and you always have to consider how many structures to build and where to build them as most require energy which is in short supply. The game works and plays well, the story is interesting and I recommend it. Plays best with a controller, but keyboard is OK. 4.5/5 (4 for gameplay and 5 for running natively on Linux).

2 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 10 July, 2026 22:30

Immense scale, so-so gameplay but unique

What if you took Master of Orion 2 (MOO2) and increased the scale 200 times? You would get Distant Worlds 2 and a bit of a headache. You setup a galaxy with 300 (at a minimum) or 2000(!) stars and control an empire that starts from a single system and expands to sizes unseen in the genre. There is trade, military and political aspects to tend to as well as research and population management. There is even spying aspects to the game. And how do you fit all this scope so that it can be managed by one person? With AI automation and a bunch of drop down list selections that influence aspects of this automation. There is even a mode when the empire will run itself in all aspects until you are ready to jump in and take control of some or all aspects again. Therein lies the game's weakness - the AI is somewhat adequate but unremarkable in managing your empire - nonetheless you have to enable some automation even for a small galaxy as the amount of micro-management needed to do everything is completely overwhelming. The expansions/dlcs are good, giving the player new unique factions to play and I think you should get them once you have tried the main game with the exception of the Return of the Shakturi which should only be tried after you have "mastered" the games mechanics. The Shakturi expansion introduces a mid/end game ancient race which appears at some corner of the galaxy and splits the galaxy into two opposing factions - the allies of the Shakturi and those opposing them. Initially they seem unbeatable but if you complete certain missions you can, in theory at least - I have never managed it, to overcome them and their allies. Your AI automation will not understand the importance of these missions so you probably need to manually intervene to get them going. Anyway, I am not in the habbit of playing for 4 hours and then getting steamrolled by surprise aliens so I am happy to give that a miss in most of my playthroughs. The game is certainly not perfect so why a 5 star rating? Simple - nothing like it exists anywhere else. The ambition of the game is immense, the mechanics are expansive and deep and the setting and races are quite compelling. The simulation seems reasonable and the way the races behave broadly fit their stated race profile descriptions. Before you buy though watch a playthrough of it to understand what you are getting into. It is certainly not for every MOO2 fan.

5 gamers found this review helpful

Created on 25 June, 2026 02:44

Play it for the story

Gameplay is ok but a bit repetitive. Graphics are just ok by today's standards but were pretty amazing for their time. The real standout here is the story, which although not quite as groundbreaking as the first two games ends on a surprising twist and leaves you thinking about what it all meant in the end. The dlc is also interesting. When on discount this goes as cheap as 11 euros which is practically a steal. 5 stars for discounted price, 3 stars for full price.

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