I was waiting around the other day for somebody else here to be brave enough to buy Serious Sam II on GamersGate. I waited and waited. SOMEBODY on GOG had to have already bought Serious Sam II on Steam, right? Well, I guess after playing it in 2005, I was the only person on GOG left with any interest at all in revisiting it, so I decided to take the plunge. Not that you care, of course.
Yeah, Serious Sam II still isn't that great. It's actually better than I remember it being, perhaps that's nostalgia or something, but it's a far cry from First and Second Encounter.
Anyway, for those of you serio- err... curious about Serious Sam on GamersGate, here's the lowdown. Serious Sam II allows you to download the game data from GamersGate, but unfortunately, they must have decided to screw people over after converting it to Steamworks, as the GamersGate download includes the data encrypted into two large files alongside a Steam installer. Despite previously being listed as DRM-free, the bastards really did it. You're going to
have to activate it on Steam, so don't bother clicking download on GamersGate.
The GOOD news is that the Steam version of Serious Sam II is also DRM-free. At least, it is until the day they decided to add in achievements or something and then require it to be launched through the client. I wouldn't hold it past them. -_-;
Serious Sam FE, SE, and II are all DRM-free. I already have the first two on GOG, so I have those installers downloaded instead, but for Serious Sam II, I've downloaded and backed up the game folder, so it's as good as owned.
The HD versions and both indie games (RE, DD) have Steam DRM. Yes, Double D is DRM-free on GamersGate and Desura, while Random Encounter is DRM-free on Desura (but appears to be Steamworks on GamersGate), but the Steam versions of all of these games must be launched through the client. Speaking of Desura, the Desura versions of FE and SE have to be activated on Steam. Again, the Steam versions have no DRM, nor do the GOG versions, which begs the question of why they didn't just let you download and play them straight from Desura?
Short version: Get Serious Sam FE, SE, or II from wherever, get Double D from GamersGate or Desura, get Random Encounter from Desura, Greek Encounter isn't worth the $1 they want for it, everything else has to be played through Steam.
nijuu: L.A. Noire (everyone else seems to like it for some reason)
If it doesn't look like the kind of thing you would like, you don't need to play it. Me? That kind of thing is right up my alley, I'm a sucker for hard-boiled detective stuff. :P
