Any particular reason(s) why this isn't classified as running on Windows 8?

They are all DOS games, so there shoudn't be a problem to run them on Win 8.

Not that I know of. There are a few issues on all Windows versions, but most of them were solved here in the forum. There's nothing Windows 8 specific, that wouldn't allow the games to run. All three Arkania titles are running within DOSBox (v 0.74 as of now) which is compatible with Windows 8.

If you have any problems, just post here in the forum or contact GOG support. If they can't help you, there's still the 30 Day Money Back Guarantee. Hence no risk in buying and trying.

Edit: Gydion is right in his post below, clause 13 of the Money Back Guarantee excludes systems not meeting the minimum requirements :-/ So there is a risk.

Actually, he's not eligible as Windows 8 isn't a supported OS.

Then again the game card may be out of date. I would contact GOG support and see what they say.

I already did, but no answer yet ;-) I wonder if the restrictive minimum requirements are actually connected to the Money Back Guarantee or support capabilities?

Possibly. However, it did take months for GOG to update Police Quest 1-4 with the little fact they added the EGA version of 1 to the collection.

As for Windows 8 compatibility, one of GOG's standard compatibility tests came up with an error they weren't able to fix. Hence they don't list full compatibility for Windows 8 on the game card. Here's what support wrote: My guess is, that it'll run on the majority of Windows 8 systems and you can always use a virtual machine with Windows XP for these games. But remember, both is not officially supported by GOG, so the only help you'll get is from the forum and no Money Back Guarantee.