It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Our guide to a world of awesome game reviews

Game reviews are important. They help developers get direct feedback on their games, and as gamers they help us make an informed purchase or share our thoughts. Writing a quality review carries a certain responsibility: to do good by both the game and the community. Striking that perfect balance is a challenge, a delicate art that we want to promote.

Next time you're about to write a review, you'll see our simple suggestions for crafting a top-notch review. You can always revisit them from the review form as well.

Focus on your in-game experience: if you have general feedback or need tech support, contact us!
Avoid politics and drama: let the game stand on its own merits.
Critique responsibly: whether it's positive or negative, a great review should be helpful and informative.

We hope that these three essential guidelines will help make GOG.com reviews even more awesome than they already are, but we also don't want to stop there!



CONTEST: REVIEW OF THE MONTH

Together with our friends at ROCCAT we venture to encourage and reward the best reviews on GOG.com – and to that end, we are introducing our monthly Review of the Month contest!

Submit your review for any game (or games!) released on GOG.com between May 1 and May 31, 2016. This time around, the grand prize is the RENGA gaming headset, courtesy of ROCCAT.

Here's what you need to know:

—Once you've posted your review, submit it for consideration by also quoting it in this post's forum thread.
—Keep the review guidelines in mind. A good review can be both entertaining and informative, it can be brief or extensive. It doesn't need to be positive in its overall assessment of the game - as long as it's eloquent and fair (or hilarious), it has our attention.
—All eligible reviews must be about games that have joined the GOG.com catalog within the previous month. For this first phase of the contest eligible reviews shall concern games that came out on GOG.com between May 1 and May 31, 2016.
—Winners will be announced at the beginning of every month with the start of next month's contest. The first round of winners will be announced in early July, giving you guys a bit of extra time to fine-tune your entries. Remember that if you're not happy with the shape of a review you've already posted, you can always contact our support team to rectify that.
—The best review of each month will win a sweet piece of gaming gear, courtesy of the good people at ROCCAT. Any runners-up will receive honorable mentions and one $9.99 code each, to be redeemed at GOG.com.

Let's celebrate the reviews that hit the nail on the head — the most constructive, informative, or fun to read. Grab your keyboards and make some magic happen, GOGers!
Post edited May 31, 2016 by maladr0Id
high rated
"...even more awesome than they already are..." This statement may be more wishful thinking than reality. But I like the idea of rewarding awesome reviews. I only hope you will reward not only the reviews praising games infinitely (like it is often the case) but also those which negatively review of a bad game (because than it should be negative) can be review of the month.

I see a bit a potential conflict of interest. GOG wants to sell games so you may be interested more in overly positive reviews and may be biased towards liking those more.
high rated
You know what would be great? If GOG would finally add an option to edit reviews. It's possible on pretty much every platform that allows user-posted reviews, yet GOG somehow avoids it... come on guys, I want to fix typos in my reviews that I spotted post-factum, or correct formatting, because it works in some very weird way on GOG that you cannot preview, or correct some factual mistakes if I found later on that I was wrong about something.
Review of The Original Strife: Veteran Edition

"Fight for the front and freedom!"

Strife is a underrated game. Made on the original Doom-engine and releasing at a time when 3D-shooters was starting to become mainstream, it got little attention. Strife is a early Action-RPG, with classic Doom-engine gameplay, but unlike other shooters of its era, it has quests, a hub area, shops, characters you can talk to, and a deep story!

You progress through the game by completing quests. You are working for the resistance, fighting a war against the mutated acolytes. Infiltrate, sabotage, kill.. the tasks are varied. There are also side-missions that will give you rewards, such as stat boosts or cash.

The cutscenes are amazing. Well.. they are just slideshows, showing pictures with voice-acting in the background, but the pictures are very well drawn and look excellent! There is a lot of detail, and has a great style to it. The voice-acting is also top-notch!

You start in a small town, which serves as the hub area of the game. You can buy ammo, medkits, and armor, you can talk to people (though most of them don't have much to say). You can walk back to the town anytime in the game (or any previously visited location) if you need something, it's an open world. Shooting at someone in town will cause the shops and tavern to go in lockdown-mode, and a horde of guards will attempt to kill you. Save before you try this! :)

Of course, Strife is still a 90's shooter at its core. Gameplay feels familiar to that of other games of the Doom-engine. There are many huge, well-designed areas, but.. there are also sewers and mazes. Be prepared to walk astray a couple of times.

The Veteran Edition is a very good way to play the game. It runs flawlessly on modern systems, and has an abundance of settings, such as widescreen resolutions, rebindable keys, bloom, fancy lighting, and so on. Even if you are a purist, you can tweak the game to feel as original as possible.

Strife has its flaws, but I still love it. Now go play Strife, and remember.. Trust no one!
How to see if a particular game was released on GOG.com during the last month? For example <span class="bold">J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars</span> has it's original release date, not the date it came here?
Post edited May 20, 2016 by leon30
avatar
leon30: How to see if a particular game was released on GOG.com during the last month? For example <span class="bold">J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars</span> has it's original release date, not the date it came here?
Here

I believe Shadows of the Empire was the first release in May. Everything after that is eligible :)
avatar
Maxvorstadt: I make my reviews mostly in german.
PLEASE, stop doing that! You write very good english, (actually better than most americans I got to know,) and you usually make good points from what I've seen in the forums. So when you write only to germans and those who got to learn your language anyone like me who can't read more than five words in german is left out.

For better or worse, english is the universal language, at least for the foreseeable future. Anybody who entered GOG either knows it or will benefit a lot from becoming better at it. So "wanting to read in their own language" is kinda... I don't know, a hard position for me to back, I guess? It is definitely lazy.

Besides, if everyone were to write in their own language there would be a lot less reviews that matters for anyone due to the rest being in an unknown language. Either you get to trudge through reviews that don't matter or, if they were to attempt to implement your suggestion, we get into a problem-solving nightmare that is bound to not work that well.
avatar
GOG.com: Submit your review for any game (or games!) released on GOG.com between May 1 and May 31, 2016.
is this meaning that the games need to be released in that time frame or any game on GOG.com that the review is POSTED in that time frame??
thanks
avatar
GOG.com: Submit your review for any game (or games!) released on GOG.com between May 1 and May 31, 2016.
avatar
stackonme2: is this meaning that the games need to be released in that time frame or any game on GOG.com that the review is POSTED in that time frame??
thanks
You might want to reread that quote. ;)
avatar
Maxvorstadt: What about reviews in other languages than english? Will there be a language filter eventually? I make my reviews mostly in german, so a filter could be helpfull for people who want to read reviews in their own language, because they don`t have to scroll anymore thru dozens of english reviews until they find one in their own language.
We defnitely need such a filter because I can only understand reviews in German, English or Spanish but not in French nor in Russian or any other language. Alternative would be to only allow reviews in English but that would go against the spirit of localized GOG version (why having a French site if reviews must be in English...). So a filter is the minimum feature needed to make that work.
Post edited May 20, 2016 by Trilarion
avatar
Maxvorstadt: What about reviews in other languages than english? Will there be a language filter eventually? I make my reviews mostly in german, so a filter could be helpfull for people who want to read reviews in their own language, because they don`t have to scroll anymore thru dozens of english reviews until they find one in their own language.
avatar
Trilarion: We defnitely need such a filter because I can only understand reviews in German, English or Spanish but not in French nor in Russian or any other language. Alternative would be to only allow reviews in English but that would go against the spirit of localized GOG version (why having a French site if reviews must be in English...). So a filter is the minimum feature needed to make that work.
I'd personally be glad for a way to skip all the non-English reviews, so I'd support a filter.
avatar
GOG.com: —Winners will be announced at the beginning of every month with the start of next month's contest. The first round of winners will be announced in early July, giving you guys a bit of extra time to fine-tune your entries.
So... Any games released at the end of the month will have zero playtime for their reviews, if I understand this correctly?
Post edited May 20, 2016 by CelineSSauve
avatar
Trilarion: We defnitely need such a filter because I can only understand reviews in German, English or Spanish but not in French nor in Russian or any other language. Alternative would be to only allow reviews in English but that would go against the spirit of localized GOG version (why having a French site if reviews must be in English...). So a filter is the minimum feature needed to make that work.
avatar
CelineSSauve: I'd personally be glad for a way to skip all the non-English reviews, so I'd support a filter.
avatar
GOG.com: —Winners will be announced at the beginning of every month with the start of next month's contest. The first round of winners will be announced in early July, giving you guys a bit of extra time to fine-tune your entries.
avatar
CelineSSauve: So... Any games released at the end of the month will have zero playtime for their reviews, if I understand this correctly?
Nope, you'll have almost a full month for those. The results of the contest for games released in May will be decided first week of July. So there is one full month for the "May 31" release and more for all the prior ones. :)
avatar
leon30: How to see if a particular game was released on GOG.com during the last month? For example <span class="bold">J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars</span> has it's original release date, not the date it came here?
See here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/review_of_the_month_contest_7732d/post36
Is there anything that MaGog can't do?
avatar
Mr.Caine: heh. was this prompted by the response Baldur's Gate EE received?
Hehehe.

Nice Ideal but if even professional and semi professional Reviewers don't manage it (I still cringe at some stuff mentioned in the Witcher 3 Reviews), what cdo you really expect of users.
avatar
PaterAlf: Is there anything that MaGog can't do?
Kill people. (I hope)
Post edited May 20, 2016 by omega64