Alternatives to Steam: Desura, GOG and others

[Morph Bark]

As much as I like Steam, especially it's cheap deals, there are other places on the web that offer the same service. They tend to be smaller, yes, but they often offer games Steam does not, or cannot.

Desura (http://www.desura.com/) is one of the bigger ones among these, with a primary focus on indie games, and the site also apparently features a number of mods, though I haven't had a chance yet to check those out (or to see if they work with games gotten elsewhere, like from Steam).

GOG (http://www.gog.com/), which is nowadays always abbreviated but used to stand for Good Old Games, is another great one, with a primary focus on older games. A handful or two don't work with Windows 7, but all of the others have been confirmed to work, and it's great for older gamers for nostalgia purposes.


GOG currently has a sale going on with a few games where you can get 5 for 80% off! I got a few cheap ones for even cheaper, alongside Alan Wake.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I like how every game shop site has become an alternative to Steam. Even when ones like GOG have barely any overlap with it.

[Morph Bark]

It's the best word I could think of, but it clearly grabs the attention at least. :smallwink:

GOG has little overlap, primarily due to the aforementioned focus on older games, whilst Desura has more overlap, though Steam has fewer indie games than it.

[Ellye]

Gamersgate (http://www.gamersgate.com/) used to be the place to purchase Paradox Interactive games. But now those are on Steam, too!

There's also Impulse (http://impulsedriven.com/). Sins of a Solar Empire was the only game that I purchased there, though, and now it is also on Steam. But it does have some games that aren't.

There's also Green Man Gaming (http://www.greenmangaming.com/).

Oh, and for something more niche, Matrix Games (http://www.matrixgames.com/) has quite the selection of wargames.

[Domochevsky]

Of relevant note: Gamersgate and GOG do not use clients. You don't need to install anything of theirs to play your games. (But Gamersgate also sells Steam games, so you need to make sure to read the DRM entry on each game.)