GOG has added five more games to its Preservation Program, and they're a delightfully mixed bunch: a 1997 fighting game, a point-and-click adventure and three lesser-known older titles. The GOG Preservation Program page now lists Mortal Kombat 4, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Weird Dreams, BloodNet and Personal Nightmare at the front of its "Check newest additions to GPP" section.
What the program promises
GOG says the program "ensures classic games remain playable on modern systems". On the same page, the store says it tests and updates these games so they "work flawlessly on the most popular PC configurations" and keeps maintaining them as PCs change. The program is Windows-only for now, and the page counts 336 games in it.
What each game gets
GamingOnLinux went through the changelogs, which it dates to 29 October. Here's what it reports for each game.
- Mortal Kombat 4 has the longest list of changes: better compatibility with Windows 10 and 11, updated 3dfx Glide emulation, fixed CD audio music emulation, wider support for modern controllers and new default bindings. GamingOnLinux also notes a fix for Shinnok's rendering when Sub-Zero freezes him. GOG's own page highlights native Glide emulation and "full controller hot-plugging support" for the game.
- Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers now comes in two versions, one running in DOSBox in VGA mode and one running in ScummVM in SVGA mode, with a launcher to choose between them. It also gets the GOG Game Configurator, subtitles switched on by default, updated in-game hints and Cloud Saves. Three extras come with it: a graphic novel, a making-of documentary and the original trailer.
- BloodNet's floppy and CD versions both move to DOSBox Staging 0.83. They also get the GOG Game Configurator, gamepad support with hot-plugging, controller rebinding and a "Blood Rage" graphical preset, and the floppy version gets Cloud Saves.
- Weird Dreams moves to DOSBox Staging 0.83 and gets the Configurator and the same "Blood Rage" preset.
- Personal Nightmare gets the GOG Game Configurator.
Why these updates matter
Much of the work leans on two long-running projects. DOSBox Staging calls itself a modern continuation of the DOSBox emulator. ScummVM isn't an emulator at all: it rewrites the original executables of classic adventure and role-playing games so they run on today's machines. GOG bundling them with its own launcher and Configurator should spare you some of the setup.
Mortal Kombat 4 is the one most people will recognise. It came out in arcades in 1997 and was the series' first 3D entry.
For Linux players, GamingOnLinux points out that GOG has confirmed it's working on GOG Galaxy for Linux but hasn't released it yet. In the meantime, the outlet suggests the Heroic Launcher.
Ollie's take: I love that a list with Mortal Kombat 4 on it also has room for Personal Nightmare and Weird Dreams. That's the point of preservation. The famous games tend to survive anyway, so the obscure ones are where a program like this earns its keep. A preset called "Blood Rage" also sounds like the most 1990s menu option ever written.
Reporting notes